Dark matters
by Barbayat
Summary: 180 years after the movie, Dracula still (weakened by the werewolf venom) comes to future L.A. which is ruled by an evil mage. Will he ever recover from what Van Helsing did to him? And what will happen when they meet again?
1. Misery

A/N: This story starts out with a Dracula that has been seriously weakened by the events of the movie. Therefore at the beginning he is not that invincible and forced to interact with people and think, rather than just take it for granted that he is unbetable.  
  
This story will consist of three parts, the first deals with Dracula's rise to power, the second will introduce Van Helsing, and the third will mainly deal with Van Helsing/Dracula. I will present my version of what I think might have happened between them in the past.  
  
A lot of OC here, but after all this takes places 180 years after the movie and VH and Dracula are the only immortals. Yes, that means new brides, too - please don't turn away thinking they are Mary Sues, just because they are female OC's ending up with Dracula. It be against canon!Dracula not take new ones.  
  
Thx to Jenny for her helpful corrections and to BellaBlack87, als well to Margit for her final beta-reading ;)  
  
**Dark Matters**  
  
Chapter One: Misery  
  
'What a strange place,' Dracula thought looking at the barely illuminated ruins of a gigantic city. He had been told that it had been known as "The City of Angels" before it had been destroyed. The powers of darkness combined with the wicked ways of science had given the devil an edge. Except for the lack of food during some parts of his long voyage, he felt very comfortable here.  
  
He enjoyed the view overlooking the city below. It was dark and reeked of human suffering. Vladislav felt an aura of power coming from one of the two skyscrapers. He knew that he had finally found it. This place fit the description he had gotten out of the gypsy fortune teller. "A city cast in darkness, with a centre of light in the shadows of a dark power," he said aloud in his native tongue.  
  
He had travelled a long time to find this place. Still he had no idea if the gypsy woman had sent him to his doom or salvation. Dracula had forced a reading from her, threatening the life of her grandchildren. But the thing was, as a fortune-teller, she must have known that he was going to kill all three of them anyway.  
  
Despite his body being tired and in need of fresh blood, he felt excited. Dracula was ready to rise back to power.  
  
First he had stumbled through the dark and haunted Europe. Being too weak to fly, the effort of leaving his castle had nearly exhausted him to the point of starvation. Rarely had he found a living soul on his way. It was almost as if this world had been cast into eternal darkness, but the humans were still not conquered, their spirits still free and unwilling to submit to the powers of evil.  
  
Dracula could only laugh at mortals. He waited for the day when they finally realised that resisting darkness made their lives only more uncomfortable. Yet whatever had happened, he was almost glad that it had not been completely successful. After all he wanted to rule the world; but since his last plan had been ruined so shamefully, he needed to recover, find new brides and an army capable of conquering what was left of this world and its inhabitants.  
  
Dracula was not sure how many days he had walked before he had found the remaining gypsies in the valley where Castle Frankenstein had stood the last time he had been around. That Anna Valerious had not survived the night Van Helsing had defeated his plans and nearly him, was the first amusing thing he had heard since his rebirth.  
  
It was not that he had not enjoyed quenching his thirst with the last drop of blood out of them. Which had not been so easy in his weakened condition; but the burst of fresh life power had given him back some of his strength at least partially. And now after eight years, not counting the sea voyage to America, he was close to finding his destiny.  
  
There were a lot more survivors in the 'land of opportunities'. The frustrating thing was that no one seemed to remember what exactly had brought the world so close to falling into full darkness. Most people he had met were either crazy, mad loners or sadistic mindless bands of brutes, who brought nothing but terror and death; and those were too dumb to match his liking. The rest lived in religious-frenzy-driven communities, with despotic so-called 'holy crusaders' who dictated their miserable lives.  
  
The crusaders were indeed a dangerous lot. In the nearly 180 years that had passed since his fight with Van Helsing, science had given mankind terrible weapons; and weakened as he was with the werewolf venom in his arteries, he had to flee and avoid them. It was a sad fact, how deep the mighty Dracula had fallen.  
  
How he longed to leap in his bat form down into the valley where the city lay and make his presence known. Even if he had had the strength to change, with that mighty a power residing inside the city, it was best if he walked quietly down the dark path and gathered some intelligence.  
  
Dracula glanced at the full moon and frowned. He hated the full moon. It weakened him, no matter how many throats he drank from. The vampire lord walked down the long pathway. A sign labelled "Valley of the fallen Angels" pointed that way. Halfway down, he sensed a group of mortals - very strong specimens.  
  
Licking his lips he moved closer towards them. His hunger became almost unbearable and he had to concentrate to move without a sound. Almost too late he realised that it was an armed troop; but judging from their clothing they were neither crusaders nor raving brutes. There was something about those men, besides their blood, that appealed to Dracula.  
  
"Who goes there?" came a firm voice; and the vampire could not believe that they had noticed him. He could see them in the dark, but mortals had weak eyes and he had moved without making even the tiniest noise. Vladislav had not even drawn a single breath.  
  
A slender guy barely reaching the height of Dracula's chin stepped out of a circle of rather dangerous looking-musclemen. On his head was a strange metal device covering his eyes. The other men appeared to be alert - no easy prey in his current state. He reached a decision in a matter of seconds and stepped from the shadows.  
  
The small man looked at his pale face shining in the light of the moon. The vampire realised that, at the moment, he was not really a frightening figure. Too long ago he had run out of blood; around the city were more dead things crawling than living bugs in the earth. He needed blood, but they would be able to wound him with their weapons way beyond what their amount of life force could regenerate.  
  
"I can barely decide whether he is one of the un-dead from above or just a nearly half-dead man seeking his luck in the lost city -- or shall I say the 'last' city?" the guy addressed the others, who laughed hysterically.  
  
'Vicious potential,' Vladislav thought; he hoped to remember the man's face despite the crude mask, so he would be able to kill him one day for his insolence towards him. Under different circumstances, the creep might have worked for him. So, smiling he, said: "I am absolutely ready to try my luck in this city."  
  
Surprised they were, but they continued to laugh nevertheless. Then the small man bowed and pointed down the path. As he rose, the rest gave way. Dracula found it to be a strange scenario -- until passing them -- their leader said: "But know this - you won't get out that easily."  
  
Dracula could not help himself; he turned and replied with a dangerous smile full of self-assuredness: "We shall see."  
  
His opponent swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing heavily, but the vampire did not wait for a further reaction and strode down into the city.  
  
Street signs were sprayed over with graffiti and conveyed strange messages or were just a collection of neon and metallic colours. Strange figures passed in the distance between the dark buildings. Only a little light came now and then from fires burning in metal barrels, which served more as sources of heats.  
  
The humans he saw looked even more run-down than he was, but this was not the time to be selective. He entered the labyrinth of streets despite the buildings crocked positions and found the small side alleys to be the perfect spot for a few killings.  
  
He would not say that it was truly a divine taste, the old woman he took first was dirty and actually much younger than he had thought at first. After he had had his fill of throats and felt that it was no longer making him any stronger, Dracula decided to venture into the only part of the city where he had seen more light.  
  
Verbatina stood at the top of the tallest building in Misery, the quarter of the poor. The young woman was not thrilled about this assignment, but she did not dare to complain. Her master had taken her from here when she had been seven; and she owed him all her luck in life. It was not really a difficult or overbearing duty, hardly ever anything happened around here, except the usual murders for clothing or food. Sexual assaults happened so seldom because the people who lived here had a hard time staying alive.  
  
For Verbatina it was a constant reminder of her days of suffering, but of all her master's hands, she was the one most familiar with Misery. She was still upset by the sight of three eight-year-olds stealing shoes from an old man, as she realised that something was going on.  
  
She crossed the roof and peered down into the opposite alley. Someone had been murdered there, but the body had been left with all its belongings. It took the woman a moment's hesitation, then she climbed down the fire stairs of the six-story building and examined the body. It was a woman, a very unhappy soul.  
  
Verbatina thought it might have been what she would have looked like, if her master had not gotten her out of here in time. Reluctantly she took a closer look and saw traces of blood on the woman's chin. Pulling a rough piece of clothing away, the girl saw that the victim had a nasty wound, which left half of her neck open. Strange enough there was but little blood for such a large wound. Perhaps her master would have a clue what this meant.  
  
Maybe she might be able to spot the person responsible; but just as she was looking for traces of the perpetrator, Verbatina heard the footsteps of several men behind her in the alley. Turning, she saw that they were also outsiders, probably some henchmen from the upper district looking for children left with all their teeth to sell them to the upper class.  
  
Her small figure was hidden in rough dark clothing. As long as none of them realised that she was not from here either, she would have the element of surprise on her side. Most of them would never know what killed them. Playing a native to Misery she tried hard looking scared to death.  
  
"What a pretty face," said one of the men who carried a large machete and was wearing a worn-out, dirty brown leather jacket. "With such nasty habits!"  
  
Obviously he was the leader, for the other scoundrels were much more modestly dressed. Verbatina shook her head and stepped away from the older woman. "I think she might have had a heart attack."  
  
"She might have had a heart attack," mocked one of the others with a high pitched-voice as they closed in on her.  
  
With the wall to cover her back, she waited until the first were only a few feet away from her. Then the young woman flung herself forward, drew her sword and buried it eight inches deep in the leather jacket. Another swift move brought her closer to her next adversary. He was a bit more alert, but still too surprised to do more than faintly block her first blow with his spiked club. Somehow her hood slipped while she cut his throat with her long sword.  
  
The remaining three gasped in shock as they saw her black-blue, stylishly short haircut. Instantly they knew that something was terribly wrong. Someone who could afford riches like this was not likely to be present in this part of town, unless they were extremely dangerous personnel and involved in something grander than their level of business.  
  
Seeing their comrades going down, it would have been the smartest thing to run away; but their nature was probably telling them, that Verbatina was still nothing but a tiny girl with a little sword. Two attacked at once with their weapons - a heavy pipe and a sledge-hammer, while the other one backed up to get room for his chain.  
  
But those three bullies were only experienced in taking on much weaker opponents, while Verbatina had been personally trained by her master. She blocked the pipe and split the wood of the hammer with two swift moves of her sword, while a kick in the balls send the now-unarmed scoundrel to his knees.  
  
The chain-wielder yelled to his still standing comrade to get out of the way, but he would not listen. Insulting her, he continued attacking her. It did not take long for her to find a breach; and the sword cut straight through his vital organs. A second blow killed the other man before he had the chance to stop moaning in pain.  
  
Facing the last man standing proved to be almost as easy. His moves were so obvious that she could dodge the first blow. Then she drew a throwing knife from her belt and settled the matter once and for all. Verbatina took a deep, angry breath. Whoever killed that woman, was now probably long gone.  
  
A quick check on the men, revealed that they worked for Brooks, an upstart pimp from Merry Ville. Since it seemed unlikely that he had anything to do with the murder, she turned and looked for more clues to the identity of the real killer. 


	2. The Streets to Success

A/N: Thanks to Margit for putting up with my mistakes ;)  
  
Chapter Two: The Street to Success  
  
Vladislav thought about how this city might have looked like before it had been destroyed. There must have been over a million people or more that used to live here. Still there were plenty left, but just to think about that mass of people walking around in one spot. What an ideal feeding ground for his kind. Not to think that humans always found so many nice little diversions that sometimes were actually quite entertaining.  
  
Keeping to the shadows and just watching, Dracula learnt a lot on his way to the Golden City, as people called it. For reasons still unknown to him it was as much dreaded as admired by the inhabitants of Los Angeles. It was like the closer he got to the centre of the city the cleaner it became. The change in life quality was remarkable. The next time he needed to feed he could afford to be selective.  
  
Unfortunately the Count had taken none of his riches with him. Gold made everything easier in the world of man, but he had not expected to find a place where society was still intact. The vampire realised very soon that he needed some sort of currency, for otherwise he would call for too much attention. Even if he killed every single being in this city step by step, their blood would not cleanse the poison from his system. Furthermore - they might catch him.  
  
Without fresh blood, his healing process was almost non-existing and even with it took hours for a single cut to close. He wondered if his archenemy Van Helsing was still around and if - where he was right now. Maybe he had done his final duty, maybe somebody else had killed him and deprived him of his revenge. Maybe it was for the better. He was in no shape to face his old adversary.  
  
Dracula soon began to think about more urgent matters. He needed a fresh suit, something that set him above the low-lives of this city. The vampire also needed a resting place, where he was able to sleep during the day, since his resistance against the rays of the sun was gone as well. He was deep in thoughts as he approached a more public street, where a few lights shone from a great house.  
  
Vladislav only looked up as he heard a thin voice beside him. "Would you care for some company?", said the voice of a frightened female.  
  
He stopped and looked at her. Although part of him wanted to bathe in her blood, another part of him felt a bit sorry for her. She was a miserable creature. The girl held her robes open and her naked skin beneath was immediately covered with goose bumps. Her rip bones peeked out and she had dried blood on her slip, which was the only other piece of clothing she had. Not to speak of the bruises and scars. Her nipples had human tooth marks around them and one was still swollen. Her nose had been broken at least once and an eyebrow was parted by a small scar.  
  
"Not at the moment", he said with heavy accent and the girl covered herself with a disappointed look. Dracula let his gaze sway about the place. There were a dozen of other girls, some older, some younger; but most of them looked like being over used. A man stepped outside the front door with a satisfied smile on his lips. He buttoned his coat and left the porch, clapping one of the girls very harshly on her backside.  
  
Laughing he went on until he noticed the Count. "Ah, my friend", he said, "I can recommend the house. The girls might not be the prettiest, but the price is cheap and you can do about anything you can imagine with them." He had a nasty smile. "Just say, that Robert Britchett recommended the place, that'll give me a girl for free."  
  
'What a remarkably evil nature', Dracula thought, 'but no class'.  
  
"I might do that, but I just arrived and I'm right now more concerned about finding a quiet place to rest", he replied.  
  
"Oh - I know plenty of places, depending on how much weight your purse has", Robert stepped closer and was suggesting with a wave of his arm to move along.  
  
The vampire followed of course and said with a sinister smile: "Let's say - I shall see how much I like to spend."  
  
"A clever man always watches his money", the other man said. Dracula had a watchful eye on him. He was unfortunately much shorter and way too fat for his clothing to fit. No doubt he would find sooner or later a more fitting wardrobe for him. The colours were much too bright for his taste, he preferred black. Meanwhile, Robert kept on explaining about the advantages and disadvantages of certain "hotels"  
  
"This, my friend," said Vladislav's guide pointing to a long dark road "is the "Street to Success" - as I like to call it. A dangerous passage, ruled by the Nightcrawlers, who make a fortune on toll's. If you want to go to the Golden City, it'll cost you a lot, only the servants of Lace have free passage."  
  
"Lace? Who is he?", Dracula asked curious, but he already had an idea.  
  
"Boy, no doubt you are new, if haven't heard of Lace, the great magician. He owns this city and most of his inhabitants. You see the great enlightened skyscraper? That's were he lives, comforted by all the glories of the 20th Century. I could tell you stories…", Britchett began, but then stopped as he realised the vampire was heading directly towards the passage. "Oh no, bad idea, they kill everyone that enters unasked."  
  
"How are people supposed to get past them?" Vladislav began to feel annoyed. Did he really have to pay his way through like a mortal? He did not think so.  
  
"The inn at the corner - do you see it? That's were you find someone to guide you through", Robert explained and changed direction.  
  
Although the little weasel might have held more useful information in store, Dracula grasped him, after a careful look around, and drew him into the shadows of an abandoned building. He drank a bit more before he broke his neck and went on to take his moneybag. It was rather filled, but he had no idea whether the content was worth anything. There were a lot of papers with fifties on them and hard coins and four pink plastic chips that were labelled "20" in the middle and "Casino Infernale" on the outer ring.  
  
While he was at it, he began to search the corpse. Dracula was disgusted at how low he had sunk, but then he had sworn to do anything to gain back his powers. He found nothing besides a ring on his left pinkie, which looked rather unusual, so he decided to dump it in the next wooden barrel filled with rainwater. He had passed a lot of these since he left Misery.  
  
He stuffed the body in to a large metal container and went back to the passage. The vampire gazed at the Inn, but a sudden sensation of superiority caught him and he marched straight forward.  
  
Christian Bale was the head of the Nightcrawlers. One could say he was a servant of Lace, but he preferred to see himself as an independent worker. His only duty to the magician was to let all the men - unfortunately including also all the women - that worked for him pass unharmed. With all the other travellers he could do as he wished. A convenient arrangement, he thought.  
  
Living between the Golden City and Merry Ville had his advantages. His men, being a rough lot, could satisfy their lusts in the three whorehouses and live out their aggression on the poor souls that walked through here uninvited. He had Lake for his comfort. She was his consort in bed and business. Not that the Crawlers knew about the last part. The pretty woman had traces of witch blood in her veins and her occasional hunches and dreams, had proved to be useful more than once.  
  
The pimp who had caught her had never realised what a pearl he had in his hands. It was his luck that she had enchanted him in a way, for never before he had wasted words on a woman, leave alone a prostitute. As he had realised that he was spending anyway a lot of money on her and that he liked her voice and her insights on the streets, he had bought her. Growing closer, she had told him about her secret lore.  
  
Most of his men were asleep. This night the city was quieter than usual. Christian estimated it to be the result of a large fight between men of Lace and the Masked One that had taken place not long ago. Inside the Mad Hatter's teahouse, there where still traces left of the less powerful employees. Some of them had literally been splashed across the walls. Of course Lace's men had won, but had they really beaten the others as easily as the mage had announced the next day?  
  
The Masked One would not get so many hands, if they felt that his struggle with Lace was that hopeless. Lake was right, the Nightcrawlers offered him all he needed. It put him out of point blank. After all the most powerful man in this city had more than one gang roaming the city, not to mention the guards who made it impossible to leave.  
  
With everything being so calm, Christian was surprised to hear footsteps coming up the main street. It was most unbelievable that anyone was so stupid as to try walking through his territory. He grabbed his equipment and stepped out of his house and onto the street. He had not heard wrong, the steps came closer.  
  
The leader of the Nightcrawlers pulled out his infrared glasses. Strangely enough he saw nothing but a very faint heat signature. He checked if they were broken; but found nothing was amiss. Christian considered to alert his men, but then he felt Lake's hand on his. "Go inside", she said, almost in trance.  
  
"Are you out of your mind?", he yelled and grabbed the walkie-talkie to wake his fighters who rested nearby. "Ouch!"  
  
Lake's nails pressed painfully against his wrist. For the first time he really noticed her. She stared with wide-open eyes towards the curve where the intruder had appeared. Something was wrong with the dude, part of him wanted to go over and set things straight, the other part wanted to bring his consort back into the house.  
  
The stranger came closer, still showing no sign of fear, although they were much easier to picture in the faint light coming from the candle behind their front window. Lake pierced through his skin and he decided to shove her back into the house, but as much as he tried, he could not get her fingers off his arm. "Lake!" he yelled at her, but although the walls were between her and the streets, her gaze followed the path of the stranger.  
  
Christian had enough, he hit his woman with the back of his hand directly in the face. That broke the spell, and she was sitting on the floor her nose bleeding. "What the hell got into you?" he scoffed and looked at the blood on his arm. He raised the walkie-talkie and addressed his men.  
  
"You can't kill what is not alive."  
  
He turned and looked at her. She looked absolutely sane. Thinking about the strange reading on his infrared device, he was suddenly not so sure what to think.  
  
"Chief, what is going on?" came a slightly scrambled voice from the radio.  
  
"Hold on a second", he spoke to the device.  
  
"He can't be un-dead, I've seen them, nothing about him …", he stopped as she saw her shaking her head.  
  
"Nobody here has seen something like it - I don't pretend to know what this person truly is, but you better leave it to your master!"  
  
Chris sighed, he hated it, when she called Lace his master, but since part of her was still bitter that he was her master, she always brought this up. Nonetheless her insights had always been valuable, so he always looked over it.  
  
"Gartner", he addressed his man over the radio. "Take Juggs and follow the man who is passing through our territory; but be careful, he must not notice that he is being followed. Report to me later!"  
  
"Okay", his second-in-command replied with a small sign of confusion, but then again he was not here to think, but to obey orders.  
  
"Better?", Christian said and offered Lake a hand. She nodded and with a faint smile she knuckled up to him. 


	3. Under the Golden City

A/N: Thx to my beta-readers and I really appreaciate comments;)  
  
Chapter Three: Under the Golden City  
  
Dracula was not sure whether he should feel disappointment or satisfaction. Recklessly he had ventured into the supposedly dangerous zone. He had felt that he needed to prove himself because he was so tired being of afraid of mortals with their modern weapons; but nothing had happened - at least nothing dangerous or threatening.  
  
There had just been a middle-aged guy with a balding head and this woman who had begged the man to go inside. It had been comforting to see her fear, yet somehow it had disturbed him. There was no sense in her being afraid like that. Vladislaus figured that the Nightcrawlers must have been made up by his former guide. 'I should have killed him slowly - very, very slowly,' the count thought, feeling slightly embarrassed.  
  
It was not before he reached the first illuminated street corner that he realised that someone was following him. The vampire felt their heartbeats and warmth in the otherwise cold row of buildings behind him. Without losing track of his pursuers, he ventured beneath the bright light spots further into the Golden City.  
  
Immediately he noticed that the buildings stood straight and did not bend over the streets. There was even light behind some of the curtains. Most of the doors and windows were protected by metal bars. Certainly there was no easy break-in, although he was sure that he was able to force his way in. It seemed strange that people were still awake and yet he sensed activity - not only in the houses, but also not far ahead of him.  
  
He turned into the next street and saw a marketplace of about 120 square yards at least. Right in the middle was the pleasing sight of a scaffolding. Three bodies hang from it. Yet not from their necks, one - a naked man - was hanging on both his wrists, another was bound like a spider and the third - an undressed woman - was dangling in some sort of sling from her midst. Their body temperature was very low and it seemed they were meant to freeze to death. Which was rather a strange method of execution.  
  
Vladislaus began to feel at home despite the fact that nobody in Transylvania had dared to cross the streets at night. Then again only a few young men and women were still awake who seemed to be on their way home. Curious he followed their way back and came to a building just around another corner. "Infinity" blinked down on him in red letters. A strong fellow with a shaven head stood at the door. Some sort of night club that was now closing down for the night.  
  
Obviously the last people still awake were going home and into their beds. Not him though, there was still time before the sun would rise again. Dracula choose to look around a bit more and search for a hideout until he had the chance to figure out how the city worked. The fact that people were active even at night, was going to make his task a lot easier.  
  
Walking back to the great marketplace with the three delinquents he saw that the houses had huge glass windows on the ground level. They were shops that displayed examples of the goods they sold. The Count meant to check out two stores; a new pair of boots and clothing more native to this city seemed an unavoidable necessity. At least judging from the few looks he had got since arriving in this part of town.  
  
Looking down at his current state of robes, he had to admit that they needed replacement. It was a miracle that his boots had not fallen apart - walking through North America on foot for eight years. The dust from his long march had woven itself into the cloth of his coat and he had no means to clean it out. The vampire had not even the option of looking into a mirror and see how bad it actually was; but he was sure it could not get much worse.  
  
Here, at what seemed to be the heart of the community, the chances to find a save daylight hideout were considerably small. Especially with those two Nightcrawlers following him. The vampire decided to venture further into the Golden City and dispose of them. Leaving the square behind him he ventured in one of the other streets that lead away from it. The men were still following him.  
  
Dracula eventually spotted an underground passage and walked down the broad stairs. The tunnel was long and dark, no moonlight found the way in. The walls were uneven and now and then there were gaps, perfect hiding places. After a few feet he pressed into one of them. He definitely liked to see who was following him. Maybe these men had some more money on them as well as other useful things; like information.  
  
The vampire had not to wait long. Thinking that they had lost him, both of them hurried down the tunnel. As they passed him, he grabbed the last one and within seconds he had changed to the hell beast mouth and bit deep into his neck. Warm blood flowed into his mouth. It was no use for him anymore, but the Count did not want to waste it. Blood had been a rare good in the past years.  
  
The remaining one turned and heard the noises created by Dracula in the darkness sucking more of the man's blood.  
  
"Juggs? Juggs! That is not funny!!", he yelled, scared.  
  
Since his pursuer was about to back off, the vampire decided to warp behind him. Only belatedly he realised that he had forgotten that his warping capability was not what it once had used to be. But instead of not moving at all, Vladislaus appeared in front of the man. 'At least a small progress', he thought.  
  
This mortal was not even realising what took place until he was grabbed by his throat and lifted up. The Vampire felt his heart beat jumping up to double speed. "Who are you and why are you following me?"  
  
The guy mumbled with his eyes wide open. Dracula realised that he probably should not press that hard on his throat. So he loosened his grip a bit.  
  
"What are you talking about - we were not …", the other guy began, but was silenced again by the vampire tightening his fingers around his throat.  
  
"Not that I am in the mood for it, but I could do that all night long," Dracula told the guy and he needed not even try sounding annoyed.  
  
Just before the guy was running out of oxygen, he threw him against the wall. The man breathed relieved, crouching on the floor. Stepping on the low-life's chest, Dracula said: "I'm waiting."  
  
"Ba - ale," coughed the guy.  
  
Vladislaus pressed his foot hard on the mortal's lower ribs and an unpleasant crack followed by a loud pain-laden scream was heard. "He is head of the Nightcrawlers", the crushed man replied under his breath, before he continued to groan in pain.  
  
With a slight step the vampire signalled that he wanted to hear more. "He told us to follow you - that's all I know", cried the man in pain.  
  
The Count was just about to make sure that this was the truth, as suddenly a door creaked behind him. Turning - on the heel he had put on his unwilling informant - he saw that part of the stone wall had opened. A stooping figure covered with dirty wool clothing and long, greasy hair -both in a grey colour - looked out of it. There was a certain stench in the air. Part of it a rotten smell, and the other part only to be recognised by people familiar with creatures that lurked in the night.  
  
Vladislaus was not sure what was in front of him, but before he could say anything, it rubbed its hands. Now Dracula saw that it was staring at the dead man right in front of its feet. "Will you be needing that?" said an old man in a shrill voice.  
  
That thing being the first intelligent un-dead creature he had met during his travels, Vladislaus decided to be generous. After all it might give him a few insights on the city that no mortal even caught a glimpse on. 'Maybe a last glimpse', Dracula thought and looked with a nasty smile on his victim. Then he looked up and said: "You're welcome."  
  
"Thanks, that one looks nice - even though a bit bloodless", the figure said and dragged it inside. The corpse had vanished to its ankles as the voice said: "Are you coming?"  
  
Taking that as invitation, not that he needed it to enter, Vladislaus took his still breathing victim by one wrist and followed the un-dead inside. The surroundings might have had something cosy once. The crypt-like room had bricked stone walls, Greek pillars and curved windows to sit, although they offered no view; it was not that the vampire lord minded a bit of dust, cobwebs or even rotting corpses; but this place had too much of it.  
  
Suddenly Dracula realised what this being was and he spoke his mind: "You are a ghoul!"  
  
The thing turned and parted the hair covering its face. Green and swollen skin and beady little yellow eyes stared at the vampire. Yet the mouth was performing something that looked like a smile. "Not really that hard to tell - was it?" the ghoul snickered. "Rufus is the name and who and what are you? You are new here aren't you?"  
  
Then it turned and began to look through various cutting and butchering tools. Being a living corpse, Dracula could not say that he felt comfortable around something that ate corpses. Although he was longing to introduce himself, the audience was not that tempting. "Are you working for Lace?"  
  
An evil laughter came from the creature. "You are suspicious - that's good for you and you are right am working for Lace, already heard of him, haven't you?" Rufus fumbled on the dead body and threw something to him. "Here, you'll be needing that."  
  
It was a pouch filled with coins and papers.  
  
"Don't you need this?"  
  
"Nay, I can't go shopping - it would call for too much attention - Lace likes to have it quiet around here", the ghoul said taking a saw. "Don't worry - Lace will know about you before I could let a word slip - he has eyes all over the city."  
  
"How do you know I am new around here?" Vladislaus demanded to know. That thing was too friendly for all he cared.  
  
"I heard about an un-dead like you - your accent and then you got white sand on your coat - you just look new!" Rufus replied. "Bale will be sure as hell contact Lace when those two don't report back!"  
  
"Bale - again this name!" Dracula looked at the still whining man at his feet.  
  
The man trembled and his eyes were fixed upon a pile of broken human bones; some of them looked chewed on.  
  
"What does Lace normally do about creatures of the night walking into his city?" he said addressing the ghoul.  
  
"Oh, depends on how they behave and what they are", it shook its head and it became obvious that his neck bones were somehow deformed. "Has a lot of different things working for him - except, maybe the Lady Rain, cute little bee, she plays chess with him and is his guest."  
  
"And what is she?" the vampire sounded curious. If she was dear to the power of this city, maybe he should keep an eye on her and take her once he had risen to his old form.  
  
"A witch - real vile one", Rufus said. "She puts a lot of corpses into our stomachs … not even the Black Tower competes with her"  
  
"Ours - there are more of you?"  
  
"Sure - we are keeping the place clean - see the poor freezing guys on the scaffold? She judged them - she always finds new methods of executions… A good tip - be always nice to her, she is horribly powerful and imaginative." Amused eyes blinked for a moment at the Count, before Rufus' head turned back to the work in front of him.  
  
Dracula sat on something that looked like a coffin and leaned against a pillar. "Why are you telling me all this?"  
  
"Oh, you gave me a nice tall corpse or maybe even two - giving back a bit of information …", Rufus replied sewing off the right hand of its meal.  
  
It sounded honest enough, but Vladislaus thought about that guy from Merry Ville and that reminded him to be careful in what to believe.  
  
"Won't anyone be bothered about - me killing two of his employees?" he wanted to know.  
  
"Oh, the Nightcrawlers - they are not citizens of the Golden City and they don't have the status of employees - but I really would recommend that you don't kill anyone from here! Unless he tries to kill you first."  
  
The vampire smiled: "What if that someone is an employee of Lace?"  
  
"As long it is not one of the dancers from the Casino or servant from the tower", Rufus shook his head dropping the right hand into another stone coffin behind the table were he was working. "Basically it is: Keep your hands of the citizens, don't overdo yourself on the workers, stay away from the dancers. I remember once this arrogant junior- witch harassing Logan and he breaks her damn neck, cuts the head off and rolls it through the front lobby of his tower."  
  
Any other day Dracula might have been interested in hearing all the nasty details that Lace probably had done to this Logan; but today he only wanted to find out if he should avoid Lace or if it was better to play with open cards. After all they were both evil and he was an excellent chess player. Maybe he was able to convince this magician that he might be useful to him.  
  
The ghoul stopped laughing and threw the other hand in the stone coffin. "Well, today Logan manages the casino for Lace …"  
  
Vladislaus eyes widened in surprise: "He kills one of his witches and gets a casino?" The only thing he would give to somebody who killed someone who worked for him was a slow painful death or a fast one, depending on situation and time.  
  
"Lace commented it with: If you hit someone where it hurts, you better be able to stand the echo", the ghoul said. "This way he can always be sure that his guards are the best, but you better not start with ripping heads off …"  
  
'I'm not dumb, imbecile', Dracula thought, 'but maybe I can arrange to be attacked. If I wanted Lace to recognize me.'  
  
In front of his feet the Nightcrawler gathered all his strength and robbed towards the door. Vladislaus noticed and warping once more, not that far away, he appeared in front of the door. "Noooo," yelled the man as he realised that he was doomed.  
  
A swift move later and he was dangling in the air and blood and a pouch of money changed its owner tonight once more.  
  
"What about the Black Tower you mentioned," the Count continued with his interrogation returning to the comfortable position on the stone coffin. "I assume it is the dark building I saw beside the illuminated one?"  
  
"Yes, you are right. It is some sort of prison," the ghoul smiled mysteriously.  
  
Dracula was not sure how much of what this thing told him was true or at least reliable. He came to the conclusion that either this was the most clever thing on the planet or the most simple minded. To the Count it seemed more like an animal. Before he noticed he had slipped into its mind. At first he was shocked, he thought he had lost this neat ability and suddenly he was in a dark and savage mind only concerned with eating.  
  
Still Vladislaus smiled, satiated. It was coming back to him. He needed to test how it was working on more elevated minds the next evening - but for now he was able to see if that thing told the truth and how reliable the information was. Indeed he learnt after a few sentences to extract what he needed directly.  
  
"Why some sort of prison?" the vampire asked.  
  
"In this town we have only one punishment -death. There are no prison sentences - the Black Tower is the final destination. No food, no escape and certainly no amnesty!" Rufus shrugged his shoulders. "Sometimes they jump or down to the lower floors to kill themselves!"  
  
Vladislaus could see in Rufus' mind that the first five stories had been mined. The mines were only deactivated for Rufus when he came to clean up the mess left behind. He also could feel the creature's disappointment that no people were locked in there right now. His informant was obviously the only ghoul responsible for cleaning the Golden City off corpses. Not many murders took place here, so he was glad about every peace of flesh he could lay his hand on.  
  
Now Dracula understood why that thing was so friendly. 'One does not bite the hand that feeds it,' he thought.  
  
"How do people get in there?" he wanted to know for he had seen in the being's head that the bottom was sealed with steal plates.  
  
"By helicopter - that is some sort of machine that flies", Rufus explained. "They must have once had a lot more of them, all action-movies have them, but maybe you survive long enough to see Lace's in action."  
  
The vampire saw it already in the creature, as well as a dark room filled with lots of people that watched a screen where moving pictures appeared. It seemed to be a preferred sort of entertainment for the mortals and daring enough for Rufus to risk trouble. That was another fact he found interesting. The death sentence rule seemed only to apply to mortals - Lace dealt with other things in a different way.  
  
Anyway he asked about movies as well and discovered that a similar technique used to make those called a camera, found it's use in supervising the Black Tower. He was pretty sure that this device was not able to detect him since he had no reflection, but as Rufus said they were turned off anyway when nobody was trapped there.  
  
He extracted some other information as well, but most of it was second-handed. The creature seldom left these quarters, it was forbidden and the only exception was when he went to work there. Unfortunately the ghoul had no larger understanding about the technique still used by Lace, leave alone how it was produced or where the food for the ordinary citizens came from. Still he got some sense of how this city was working and Vladislaus could not help himself - he was beginning to like Lace's style.  
  
Being able to question the ghoul's mind directly he had almost not realised that dawn had closed in. For this day the Black Tower would be his hiding place. So in the end this weak un-creature had proven to be very useful. Still, ghouls were such ghastly things that he was glad to leave this stinking place. 


	4. Dawn

Chapter Four: Dawn  
  
Parker was exercising in the gym hall on the 36th floor of Lace's Tower. His broad, very muscular chest and his feet were bare. He just wore wide black pants that were perfect for a bit of Thai-Chi in the morning. Not only did it improve the control over his body, it also helped him staying ahead of his anger. This was important for him, more than anything in the world he wanted to prove his master that he had mastered his curse.  
  
So far, Lace had not given him any acknowledgement for his efforts leave alone his success although the magician knew about the training he had done every single day for the past 20 years and even more enthusiastically during the last five years. A fact that probably had to do with his disapproval for the reason for his encouragement. Forbidding as ever, his master entered the gym hall.  
  
It was not the way he dressed, there was an air of power about him that even the most feeble mortal would notice. Without that he just looked like an athletic young man in elegant clothing. A bit unusual was that Lace hid his eyes behind sunglasses all the time; but not to hide his Asian origins. Everyone who had seen them once was grateful that the mage was nice enough to bother with glasses.  
  
"Punctual as ever, but I would have preferred to be briefed rather before not after events", Lace said in a rather inexpressive-tone.  
  
The black man had served the mage for so long and still it was hard for him to tell what his benefactor was feeling. Cold and distant was what he appeared. Lace had once entrusted to his head of security that a man of power could not afford to show those in public, and that his enemies had nothing to work with as long as they were unaware of his feelings.  
Honestly Parker could not imagine that something was as dear to the magician so it could be used against him. Not that Lace was not protecting his interest, but it was more the usual owner's pride. Was anyone to kidnap a dancer or threaten to destroy a rare book, the mage would not bother with negotiations. He had taken losses before to prove that he was not arguing. He was master of this city and other had to do his bidding.  
  
"My Lord, I am still waiting for the forensic reports," he replied without breaking the circle of movements. "They were supposed to be ready right after I was finished with this and then I intended to leave a full report instead of one missing details that might be important."  
  
Lace smiled sardonically, then he signalled Parker to stop and walk over with him to the sports bar. On their way the mage told him: "Parker, thinking what a monster you were, when I stumbled upon you - I never imagined you to become a perfectionist."  
  
That seemed to be a compliment and the tall, dark man thanked his boss with a nod and smiled slightly. They reached the bar, which was elevated a bit over the training grounds. It was open all the time and the personnel served free drinks. It was Lace's policy that only a healthy body served well. Not everyone was as good in shape as Parker, who enjoyed working out very much. From the bar they could see to the opposite room where the training devices stood.  
  
"Oh, Sirs, what an honour", Verbatina said, but it was obvious that she was tired, "what can I get for you?" She had not expected to see Lace once more this day. Her eyes were still slightly red. She had not been able to perform her sleep ritual, the punishment that had been bestowed upon her, for killing the men in the alley had hurt her soul more deeply than her body.  
  
"Water", Lace said as he took his seat. Of course he was not demanding the one coming from the tap. Ground water was good for the masses outside, but he preferred the clean, tasteful water he imported with all the other fruits and goods from his sources. Nobody besides his most entrusted employees knew the locations and names of his associates. Without the ability to feed this city a revolution was senseless and it spared him a lot of trouble.  
  
Parker sat down next to him and ordered one of those isotonic drinks that were made in one of the city factories. Verbatina nodded and went to the freezer, picking a bottle of water and one of the canned isotonic sports drink. She was just on her way back when the can slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. Almost she would have caught it, but the pain from her back stopped her movement. There was a loud crash, and she apologized a thousand times, putting the water on the lower part of the counter.  
  
"Relax, just get another one", Parker said a bit annoyed. He despised clumsiness and people that were apologizing for the most ridiculous things, as if they had made a capital mistake.  
  
There was the hint of a smile in Lace's face - the smile of someone that knew something. "Oh, don't be mad, it looks like she had a very hard night."  
  
Verbatina smiled relieved. Her master had told her earlier that her secret mission in Misery were now over. She was so tired from staying there every night for six months and still having to attend her duties as a servant. Something she really hated, by the way, she wished that, after all that training, she would be allowed to perform some other duties. Especially as she was opening the new can and put the glasses in front of the two men.  
  
She had been told that she had witch blood in her and that this gave her some power, but her master had taught her very few of the dark arts. Whatever reasons had lead to Verbatina's becoming a secret minion, she was not going to disappoint him. Not even after the harsh punishment earlier that day. Part of her knew that he had been right, that she could have lowered her hood and told them that she was investigating here. Had they attacked her then, it would have been their own fault. Still she was mad that her master was so strict.  
  
Verbatina knew that it was not only about killing those men, but for the reason she had done it. She had wanted to kill these men who plagued the most helpless of people, because part of her had not yet forgotten where she had come from. This might, after all, be his reason not to teach her more magic.  
  
However, part of her still longed to learn more, but being able to enrich her short sleep so she was fully rested was already a wonderful ability. Besides Lace only a handful of people were able to perform that ritual. Verbatina always told herself that witch blood was not that uncommon and over a thousand people in Los Angels had it flowing inside their veins. She still was a lucky girl and with the punishment, she had got absolution from her master and that was a lot better than him bearing anger towards her for a longer period of time.  
  
"So", Lace began. "Tell me what you know, I see to the last report later."  
  
"It was a total of eleven bodies we found in Misery. Five were massacred by some sort of sword, while the other six had their throats torn out. Although one of the six victims had been found with the other five that died by sword, we are sure it was a different murderer", Parker explained not noticing that Verbatina stop in her movements wiping up part of the drink that had been spilled to the ground.  
  
"Forget about the sword murderer", Lace said. "I am more interested in the other ones."  
  
"I thought so. You think the stranger that came in tonight was responsible for it?" Parker asked. Seeing Lace's expression he continued: "Also for the body found in Merry Ville? That one looked different; it had a broken neck and only two tiny fang marks in the neck."  
  
"I presume there was also blood missing?" the mage asked back.  
  
"Not much, but more than the wounds would have accounted for. Dr. Heller thought the blood of Mr. Britchett and the six souls looked very unusual in any case. As if infected by something - the good doctor thinks it was the same person."  
  
"Go on, tell me what you think it means," Lace encouraged him.  
  
"There are four types of beings that live on blood in this city, not counting the ghouls who virtually eat everything. They can't be responsible, it does not match their behaviour, their feeding methods or their bite patterns."  
  
Parker had to think about Kara and Virginia. Their victims had also little tiny fang marks in the neck, but they could not have been responsible for the extended damage to the other victims. They were the strongest Lamias and he knew all about their abilities. Besides, the four female victims would have shown signs of transformation.  
  
"It would mean", Parker continued his train of thoughts. "That the stranger is something new, something no one has encountered before."  
  
"Not that new. I would have thought that you read about vampires in my books," Lace said.  
  
"I read that all vampires go back to Dracula and swept from the face of this earth with his destruction. So how could the stranger be a vampire? You said yourself that all the other demons are older than vampires and had been often mistaken for them in history."  
  
"Yeah mortals, especially the church people, are tending too much to what has been written down. Be flexible", Lace stood up. "After all, if other things could be mistaken for a vampire, could not a vampire be mistaken for something else? The possibilities are endless, but judging from what I heard tonight, our new guest is a vampire."  
  
"Sounds almost as if you want it to be one," the black man said.  
  
"Yes, that would be interesting, I never met one before," Lace admitted. "Send me the report to my room."  
  
"I have sent Kara down to Bale, she will return once his men have reported back. Our security posts have not spotted him so far."  
  
"Good", Lace said, leaving.  
  
Parker had the feeling that the magician knew more about the situation than he did - like he had known all he was reporting and was just cross checking that he was on the right track. In all those years he had never quite understood the mage. For now, he wondered why Lace was not ordering a broader search.  
  
Certainly, someone with such a different style of dress should easily be noticed? Parker's problem that he was not sure what his boss wanted to do about the stranger. After all he had not broken any laws, although he expected this to happen sooner or later. He needed to re-read about vampires in Lace's open library. He was sure that the mage was not wrong about his assumption or else he would not have told him.  
  
It was always Lace who was telling people important things, not just about the situation at hand, but about the darkness in the world in general. Too bad that hardly ever someone realised what that information really was supposed to mean. Deep in thought the black man went to dress properly for a new day of duty.  
  
Leaving the ghoul, Dracula headed straight towards the Black Tower. The Count only wished that he had been able to take a closer look at the other building - Lace's Tower. But the sun was already rising and the shadow-side of the skyscraper was the only thing that protected him from its harmful rays. Some people were already walking about, but they seemed busy enough.  
  
The vampire tried his luck and used his spider-climbing-ability. He would have preferred to walk up, but that was so energy draining and certainly would have drawn some attention. So he pressed himself against the dark almost black looking glass. Almost invisible on that background with his dark clothing he climbed up to the tenth story.  
  
Then he warped himself a few feet forward. He was shocked how painful it felt this time. His hands shook a little, but soon, he found a cold white room laid out with tiles which seemed to be ideal for resting place. Also the chilly air had a comforting effect on him. He decided to rest in the white tub for it was the next best thing to a coffin. Not nearly as comfortable but definitely better than the floor. He still felt miserable.  
  
Dracula hated being so weak and felt bitter. All those wonderful things that had become his second nature were now taken from him. Maybe he would get them back or maybe he had to wait years to learn them again. He missed creating dimensional holes. They did not only make it easier to travel in and out of his castle. They also offered complete isolation. He had his troubles invading other minds at present, but he still felt them all around. They were weak and numbed by distance and by lack of power; but still disturbing.  
  
An-other advantage of lingering in dimensional holes was that he could take his brides with him. Inside the dimensional drift their pleasure, their hunger and their lust was all that mattered. It echoed from the borders back to them and multiplied way beyond what mortals were able to perceive yet alone endure. If the church only knew what he had gained by refusing their order to give away Vala. The Count missed those days of consorting with his brides. He had grown so accustomed to them that, it actually bothered him that they were gone forever.  
  
He had not loved them - liked them, found comfort and diversion with them, besides the obvious pleasures, but he knew that he never could have loved them. That feeling had died with him when he had been murdered: betrayed by his brother - abandoned by his father. Sometimes he wished that he was really as hollow as he had told his brides; but his emotions had always leaked to the surface, when the pleasure had ebbed away and the heat of his rage had passed. And in the end: Were those not also human emotions?  
  
A small part of him was a bit jealous of his brides. They seemed to have overly excessive feelings and it gave them so much energy. He actually came to think that they had enjoyed their immortality a lot more than he had. Vladislaus had already tried all forms of sin, lust and pleasure, so that he had needed their enthusiasm to feel anything at all. Now they were gone and the joy seemed to have left him.  
  
It had been such a shock when he suddenly had sensed Marishka's death, the echo of her pain as the sun had turned her to ashes while the blessed arrow had burnt in her heart. It seemed more like a night mare, but it had happened. But it had not stopped there - he had also lost Verona, his oldest and strongest bride. Dracula had been so furious when Aleera had told him how it had happened that he nearly had killed Anna Valerious.  
  
But she had amused him as she had tried to fight him. Anna's mind was still very innocent, child-like, and he had begun to understand Aleera's interest in her. Since his relative was so easy to manipulate, he had put her right under his thrall. Still what she lacked in psychic energy, she had made up with physical. Suddenly all he had been able to think about was how much fun it would be to turn her into a bride. First he had meant to change her body. Later Aleera and he would have made her yearn to join them. Or, as his red-headed beauty always had said, it would be a shame to let such beautiful woman die a virgin.  
  
Unfortunately Dracula had also been too eager to let Van Helsing be a witness to her transformation. It had been a bad idea, but so had been letting him live in the first place. Although his murderer had been clearly out of shape, Gabriel was a far too dangerous a person to roam around freely. It was no excuse that he had been surprised to see Gabriel the night he had made his second attempt to bring his children to life. He was slightly upset that his old friend had forgotten about their past, but also kind of amused.  
  
Dracula had wanted to teach him all he had forgotten before concentrating his attention on his murderer. Sending out that stupid werewolf to divert his old mentor from his plans had even been a worse mistake. In fact Vladislaus never had believed that Velkan would have been able to bite Gabriel. His young relative was in fact the incompetence in person. Just like his sister, but then, every dog has his day.  
  
All those unfortunate miscalculations had cost him his brides. He aspired to be more careful the next time - not even immortals had the chance for revenge everyday. Brides, on the contrary were much easier to find. The Count had seen quite a few pretty girls passing him on the street - much prettier than the average girls in Budapest, leave alone in that God-forsaken village where he had been born.  
  
He had created vampires as long as he could remember, but nearly half a century had passed before he had created his first bride. Brides were more powerful than ordinary vampires. While the latter were merely shadows of him, the brides mirrored his powers. After Verona had been gone he had begun to realise that their presence had made him somewhat stronger. Their powers had grown together and multiplied themselves; not that this realisation was of any use for him at the present. Zero multiplied by zero was still zero.  
  
Looking back it surprised him that he had waited so long to make a stronger vampire. His ordinary vampires had so many weaknesses and offered so little. It was not before he had seen the "real" Verona that he had thought about creating a vampire who was almost his equal in power. After all, what had he to fear? He would always remain the only one that could not be harmed by anything except creatures he thought he was able to control easily enough. 


	5. Fine leather makes a fine bat

Chapter Five: Fine leather makes a fine bat  
  
Dracula rose early. As he left the windowless room he caught glimpse of the orange light that filled the bare room next to his very inelegant resting place. The light was already too weak to harm him and the vampire stepped closer to the glass wall. Vladislaus watched the city below, pulsating with life. In all those years during his travels he had never felt as alone as now. Maybe, because finally, with all the blood from last night he, was able to think straight.  
  
The pain and despair from endless nights of wandering, sometimes crawling through deserted plains and deserts with the sun burning him through his clothes during the day was gone. Not even in the woods where he had found at least enough wildlife to make the hunger at least bearable had he been that aware of himself. All these years it had been as if something had drawn him here. For most of the time he had been closer to madness than sanity.  
  
He had felt so content and excited seeing the city from the cliff and now he felt drained and empty. The Count had rested well, had drank more blood in a few hours than he had in a whole month. And yet, he was still far away from regaining his strength. Dracula told himself to be patient, he needed to remember that at least the amount of blood had let him warp a bit and slip into the ghoul's mind.  
  
What strange conversations he had had last night. If he wanted to call it like that. The vampire realised that in fact he had not had any real conversation in a long, long time. Not just during the past years. Not even before Van Helsing had made an end of his plans and nearly him. The only thing that had come close to a real conversation had been when he had convinced Dr. Frankenstein about his confidence in his work; but even then he had not been able to be truly honest. It would have scared the doctor away, too soon.  
  
They were all afraid of him. His brides, who had been not so afraid unless, of course, he had given them reason to, had been far from being suitable partners for conversation. Maybe revenge had not been the only reason he had not wanted to kill Gabriel.  
  
As soon as the sun was down and the only lights to be seen came from the city itself he passed back through the glass. The sharp pain returned and he nearly fell. Dracula managed somehow to glide down at the front of the building and landed rather clumsy on the pavement. An old woman with some kind of animal fur he had never seen before watched him suspiciously before she hurried on.  
  
Vladislaus watched his hands. The pain had been real enough, but there was no feeling or sign of injury. His hunger was still nowhere nearer the point were he needed to feed. He wondered if this was a side effect of his peaceful rest.  
  
Dracula tried to remember where the shops were as he approached the square he had crossed the night before. First it was time for a fresh pair of boots. Unless he could not afford them, that was. From Rufus he had not learnt about prices, but he had heard about the casino. It seemed the ideal place to make some money - in case he was at least able to pick up some basic thoughts and emotions. He just needed the right clothing to be allowed in.  
  
He reckoned that the only reason why his clothing was not yet shred to pieces and his boots were still in one piece was the fact that they had been altered as he morphed with them into his bat-shape. Still the nobleman in him demanded new clothing instead of fixing those he wore.  
  
Reaching the square, he was surprised how different it looked this early in the evening. It was practically buzzing with people and none of them seemed to care about the three now-dead people hanging from the scaffolding. There was even a group of tables and chairs very closely to it where people were eating and drinking - even laughing. Lanterns in a variety of colours hung above them. There were other groupings - some small tables with elegant chairs - in front of a store that was labelled "Café Noir" .  
  
Dracula saw nothing remarkable demonic or extraordinary about the humans, except maybe that most of them looked much better dressed than he was. Strange clothing indeed, but they had their appeal. Hopefully he never again had to drink from dirty, rotten and unhealthy peasants in their flee-infested roughly fabricated clothing. It would almost be like being back in Budapest for the ball season when his food had walked right through over his doorstep.  
  
He entered the shop that announced the sale of shoes and was surprised about the quantity of shoe-wear he found there. Boot makers used to have a few exemplary pairs, but this was a huge selection of different models. There were many shelves with numbers on them and all kinds of coloured shoes. Some were obviously not even made from leather. He stepped closer and saw that there was only one shoe of each pair, with the other one missing.  
  
Vladislaus just raised a white one with strange neon green inlets in the sole that was of remarkably soft nature as he heard the voice of a young male, addressing him: "May I help you, Sir?"  
  
"Yes, indeed, I am looking for a new PAIR of black boots!" Dracula replied putting away the horrible-looking shoe.  
  
"Well, what size do you take?" the man asked friendly.  
  
The puzzled look on the vampire's face showed the sales assistant that his customer had obviously no idea and he lead Dracula to the next chair. With some sort of measuring device he hold to his boots the man figured out that he had size twelve. Looking around, the Count realised that there was a number 12 on the shelf in one corner. The sales assistant pointed over there.  
  
Vladislaus was presented with at least half a dozen single boots and none of them seemed to match his liking. Some of them had such strange markings and accessories on them - a bit too fancy for the Count's taste.  
  
"If you prefer something plainer, I guess I take a look at our special sales - one moment," the guy suggested and disappeared behind another line of shelves.  
  
For the first time the vampire had noticed that he the man wore some sort of white shoes with pink stripes over them and huge yellow circles on the backsides - Vladislaus was glad he had not paid close attention to the footwear before. And furthermore lot of people seemed to wear those thick blue trousers  
  
A few moments later, the sales assistant returned with a high-cut pair of boots made from some sort of strange smelling black leather. They looked similar to his old pairs, but these ones were padded with some sort of wool and the foot to be seemed a bit broader.  
  
"Here, Sir, what about this one? - A bit plain, but very comfortable, the inside is of course synthetic, but so is the outside," the assitant said as if this had been the funniest thing he had heard in a long time.  
  
Despite the lack of jokes in the past years Dracula's face remained unmoved. "I'll try them."  
  
There was a tag with the number 300 hundred on it. He wondered if this was the price and whether the sum in his pocket would cover it. Taking off his old boots, he asked: "Why do you have so many single ones?"  
  
"Well," the sales assistant begun unsure whether his customer wanted to poke fun at him. "We do have the other one down in the store - some sort of security measure … how do they avoid them being stolen where you come from?"  
  
"Mostly they make them on request - I suppose they don't do that here anymore," Dracula said, a bit disappointed.  
  
"Oh, there is a boot-maker a few streets away, but he is very expensive - I believe Lace and the city guards get their boots from there. We get ours from the factory in the worker's district," he paused. "You do know who Lace is, don't you?"  
  
"Yes, I've heard about him," the vampire replied angry.  
  
The vampire's eyes stared at the man trying to invade his mind, but despite the fact that the man was scared by him and thought the Count had a bad taste in dressing and about the end of his shift there was nothing.  
  
The sales assistant gulped. "Of course, Sir, you just look like you arrived very recently."  
  
Despite the fact that the boots weren't made for him, they felt quite comfortable and seemed to fit well enough. He stood up and paced in front of the shelves. Since they seemed to be the best this shop had to offer, from what he had seen peeking at the other supposedly footwear for men, Dracula decided to take them. Later tonight he would have enough money anyway, or so he hoped, to have his clothing remade.  
  
After all, the man was nice enough to point out that his money bag was not suitable and sold him at a considerably low price a flat purse. Vladislaus had had about 1200 counting all the numbers on this papers which he knew from Rufus' mind were the most valuable part of the moneybag. Which left him with about 900 - he thought to keep at least 400 for the casino. From his point of view that should be enough for his purpose.  
  
He paid and left with his old boots in a strange smelling bag made some sort of elastic material. Vladislaus thought that it would be better to keep his old clothing - just in case. The vampire walked then over to one of the other stores where they sold clothing. It had surprised him last night that there had been so many stores, but most of them seemed to be concerned with women apparel. The one he had picked last night, however, seemed to be specialised in male clothing.  
  
This time he heard the sound of a bell as he opened the door. This store was filled with different kind of trousers, shirts, jackets and many more kinds of clothing. All were hanging on railings at the walls or in the room on long rectangular or round stands. The Count wondered how they ever were going to find the people that fit in them and were willing to buy them. The only negative thing was the fact that there were mirrors everywhere. Somebody would inevitably notice that he had no reflection.  
  
'Wait and see,' Vladislaus thought. There was no reason to worry before things went down hill.  
  
"One moment, I'll be right with you", said an old man from the end of the store.  
  
Dracula watched one of the mirrors or more likely the square with the scaffolding behind him. Then as he heard steps coming towards him, he placed himself in front of it. There were more on the sides, but hopefully they would be overlooked until he had found something appropriate. He hated to look through all this rummage by himself - not to mention that he did not probably want the trouble of finding the right garments in this chaos.  
  
"Good evening, Sir, what can I do for you?", the man said.  
  
The vampire eyed him carefully. He seemed indeed to be one of the more fortunate citizens. He had without a doubt more than enough to eat and a friendly temper, according to Rufus all signs of resident of this part of town.  
  
"I intend to go to the Casino, so I am looking for something elegant", he told the old man.  
  
"Oh," said the man and ran his fingers through his white beard. It sounded much as if he was saying: And who would have guessed that?  
  
Still he was directing him to the second floor, the part were they had the more expensive garments as well as the studio for measure work. Quite proudly, the old man told the Count that despite their selling of clothing from the factory they also did some tailoring for a few of Lace's employee's. Obviously the whole family thought of themselves as some sort of artists. The women, as the old man stated, were making dresses for the dancers.  
  
So, it was no wonder that he seemed so relaxed and content. Connections like that in a city run by a powerful, dark wizard were certainly more worth than any gold. Killing him would be the worst choice to date. However, so far the man had proved to be quite polite and Vladislaus liked the fact that he was treated with respect. The vampire was still avoiding all mirrors carefully.  
  
"Here, if my eyes aren't too weak." The shop-owner grabbed a pair of black trousers from a coat-hanger and held it out to him. "Or try this one, or this one."  
  
Dracula retired to one of the little rooms with a total useless mirror at one side meant for people to try on the clothing and tried on the trousers while the old man looked for a shirt which he handed to him. At least black was not out of fashion, as though why the shirt had to be white was a mystery to him. He had to accept this world and he felt that the old man only had the interest to leave behind another satisfied customer.  
  
"By the way - maybe you want your other clothing dry-cleaned, they seem to be a little travel-weary," suggested the old man.  
  
"I could not agree more," the vampire replied, looking at his clothes on the hook.  
  
Vladislaus tried the first pair of trousers. He was surprised at how smooth the clothing was, they felt almost like the extremely expensive clothing that had been made for him. They seemed to be a tiny bit too wide for his taste, but then again he was not sure what it looked from the spectator's point of view. So he slipped into the shirt which had quite elegant buttons that shimmered and appeared to be made of ivory.  
  
Stepping outside the small cabinet, he handed the man his clothes in a bundle. "So?" He asked the mortal for his opinion.  
  
"Nice. A bit short, but so far quite fitting," said the man, circling around him. "I think the third one might do it for the length."  
  
Dissatisfied by things proving to be so complicated, Dracula went back and tried the next pair as advised. The man who was in fact the shop owner, went away and he heard him asking for someone to come and bring the Count's clothing to the dry cleaner next door. Then the man returned.  
  
"That's a bit longer, fits perfect with those boots, now let's see if we can find a jacket unless you don't approve", the man turned his gaze to the mirror that was at the end of an alley made of railings. "Oh, never mind, Sir," he chuckled, "I had no idea that you had no reflection. But trust me - it looks really nice."  
  
"Are there many beings without a reflection among your customers?" Dracula asked casually.  
  
"Not really, but my sister and her daughters are making many clothes for some of the more unnatural - if I might say so - beings that work for Lace and I was told that the Lamias do have quite a problem with that."  
  
He quickly found a black dinner jacket and fetched it with his free hand. Handing it to the vampire he was already looking for another one. Vladislaus was using the opportunity to slip into the jacket. While he stared at his wrist, he heard fast steps coming up the stairs. A young woman dressed quite casually in those blue trousers that he had seen so often around the city, and a wide pullover came up to them.  
  
"Evening", she said and then addressed the old man. "Hi Uncle, Mum said you need me."  
  
"Linda, would you be so kind to take these to Bob," he said.  
  
"Okay," she replied her gaze returning to Dracula. Obviously his charm still worked, for the girl had a certain very smile on her lips.  
  
"I imagine this to be a bit short," said Vladislaus to both of them.  
  
"You are right", said the man and handed his old clothing to his niece. "I find something with longer sleeves."  
  
Linda took extra care in prepping the vampire's clothing neatly on coat-hangers. Before she finally turned to the stairs, he already had tried on two more jackets and she smiled more approvingly each time. "So now that we found the right suit, you need a bow-tie."  
  
"A bow-tie?" He asked, confused.  
  
"Oh, in that case - Linda do you mind sticking around a second longer?" her uncle said. "I'm no good doing flies on somebody else."  
  
Linda hung up the clothing and they waited for the old man to find come with some sort of band.  
  
"You are new here, aren't you?" she asked.  
  
"It's hard to hide, isn't it?" Dracula replied.  
  
"It's just - your clothing looks so old fashioned, or aren't they yours?" Linda wondered. "Anyway I am sure I would have noticed you, if you had been around longer."  
  
'And without a doubt I wouldn't have noticed you,' he thought, but since she was so nice and he really liked her smile, seeing it from so close, he kept his thoughts to himself.  
  
"Well, I never had any problems changing to what ever suits me best," he said meaning every word of it. "And that is black."  
  
"Linda, please stop flirting with our customer and do the bow-tie", her uncle interrupted.  
  
"You don't mind do you?" she said, stepping closer. Since Vladislaus had still no idea what that bow-tie thing was for, he nodded in anticipation of what was to come.  
  
It surprised him a bit as she was bringing the ribbon around his neck and tying it with quick hands together. "That's looks gorgeous," she said as she was finished and stepped back.  
  
"Ok, Linda, on your way", the old man told her.  
  
"Bye, then," she said wearily, taking the clothes, and went down the stairs.  
  
"I'm sorry, she doesn't get out much."  
  
"Oh, I don't mind!" Dracula assured him. "So this thing is all I need?"  
  
"Except for some cuff links, I think we are done." He seemed to remember something and got hold of a hankerchief which he applied to Dracula's breast pocket. "The handkerchief comes with complements of the house," the old man told him proudly. "Unless you require an overcoat, that'll be all."  
  
Of course the Count had been checking the price tags and in the end he had only 200 left for the casino, but trusting to an experienced tailor and sales-clerk he looked quite elegant and considerably rich. Since he was not too well equipped money-wise he skipped the coat. The need was not really there, for he was in no danger of freezing. He merely sensed it was cold.  
  
After almost two hours, he was to seek his fortune in the casino. As the old man was leading him down again toward the counter, he saw the most intriguing coat he had ever seen before. It was made of black leather, looked kind of heavy and he bet it was even more appropriate than his old cloak. Taking a look at the price tag kind of unsettled him. It was almost trice the amount of what he had started with. Maybe later, after he had his run in the casino. Nonetheless he had to try it on.  
  
It actually fit perfectly and the old man told him it had been tailored for Pieter Snyder, who had been killed in the Mad Hatter's Teahouse slaughter and that they were about the same build, except Pieter being a bit taller. Vladislaus asked whether he might hold it back and the man assured him that nobody was going to buy it anyway. So they went down again.  
  
"The cleaning will take a while, but you might come by later in the evening we are open till midnight", the old man said typing on some sort of box with many keys. "That'll be 680 and forty cents, all inclusive."  
  
Dracula paid and asked whether he could leave his old boots and pick them up later with this other clothing. Knowing that his new-found customer might be in need of more new clothing besides a new coat, the old man agreed. 


	6. Casino Infernale

Chapter Six: Casino Infernale  
  
The whole 57th floor was Lace's personal sector. Only a handful of people had ever seen it and there were rooms were nobody else had set foot in since the mage had moved in. One of the not so private parts consisted of a large hall that Lace used for improving his fighting and athletic skills. Something he only did for the fun of it, for he did not really need it. The mage had not sold his soul for just one empty wish fulfilled.  
  
For now he was in his lab, another room that had at least frequently visitors from his more trusted staff. Some of the equipment came from the height of science, while other things were antiques from the dawn of time. A great part of the afternoon he had spent looking at the samples and the report from Dr. Heller. Part of it spoke for a vampire. He had found detailed information in the "Book of Arcane Sicknesses and Conditions" which he had filched from the ruins of Vatican City a year after its destruction.  
  
Still he could not believe that a vampire strong enough to survive the destruction of Dracula was having such a weak effect on it's victims. It would not even have been necessary to create that much damage in killing them, for Lace doubted that any of the victims would have turned into vampires. He was just testing how high on the energy spectrum the blood-sample from one of the victims would rate as his door bell rang. Checking the next monitor he saw that it was Parker and dropped the energy barrier to let him in.  
  
"The Nightcrawlers still haven't returned," his chief of security reported.  
  
"They are probably dead - just make sure that Bale does not get picky tomorrow," Lace replied casually.  
  
Parker was not exactly happy about this reply, but he had expected something of that sort. "Well, I think he can cope with that. Shall I order Kara to return?"  
  
Lace nodded and decided to spend the rest of the day in the library - after all, there might be some information hidden there on a few older vampires Dracula had created before his end.  
  
So the black man knew that he had fulfilled his duty and was dismissed. After all, he had better things to do with the big Halloween Party coming up tomorrow evening. It was a security-nightmare.  
  
Although his boss and most of the other beings around him did not care about people dying like flies, Parker could not help but feel responsible for those poor souls. If it was his choice, he would be doing something about it. People had a right to live.  
  
Dracula found it very strange that he had not seen a single vehicle for transportation. Maybe horses were gone as well - all in all he only sensed rats and had not seen a single animal apart from them. Those automatic vehicles all moved by gas and even he knew how rare oil was in recent days. Dracula really liked to see a car, as the images from the ghoul's mind were rather intriguing.  
  
The casino was not hard to find. The Count had retrieved the basic location from Rufus' mind and the flashing lights made sure he did not miss it. There were red orange lights displaying the word Infernale and above it in blue was the word Casino. The building itself was not more than four stories, but there was light shining out of all the windows. His eyes began to hurt from all that brightness.  
  
There were flower beds left and right of the path leading to the gate in the surrounding wall to the main entrance. Two bouncers stood guard besides the white broad stairs that lead to it. Dracula passed them unquestioned. The light inside was even worse. 'What would I give for some cosy torchlight and a dim dungeon,' he thought.  
  
The entrance hall was huge corridor. On either side were personnel ready to offer their services. He saw a couple of people passing through. A girl and a boy both in her twenties were obviously trading their money for plastic chips. So that was what the employees on the right side were there for. The man he approached wore a silly silk cap that was tied by a leather strap under his chin. A fancy uniform of the same fabric covered the upper part of his body. He sat in one of several small cabinets like a bank teller.  
  
Dracula traded everything he had into these little plastic chips. Including the three he already had, he had now a total of 237 in chips. Since he had no need for his coat being hung up he ignored the girls on the left side and went straight into the next room.  
  
For the vampire it was quite a shock, as that was even brighter and noisier. The place was huge and everywhere was people, machines were blinking, squealing, beeping. Crowds were gathered around tables that he could only see for they blocked the heat signature form the people on the other side. It was the ultimate chaos. He stood in the room a bit lost as a strangely dressed woman approached him.  
  
She was wearing the same uniform as the other employees out front, including the cap, with the only difference that her sleeves were cut open, but on purpose. Slender arms were poking out. Dracula saw that the dress was meant to be that way only because of the neat sewing on her wrists. The rest of the clothing that covered her upper part was skin-tight. Still her breasts were standing up as if she was actually wearing a corset. Her lower part was almost naked. The red uniform was kind of closed between her legs, so it covered her backside and her front, and the rest of the legs seemed to be naked. Only when looking closer, Vladislaus realised that they were covered by some sort of skin-coloured very, very thin fabric. It was quite an appetising outfit. It was her voice that stopped him from staring.  
  
"Good evening, Sir, you look a bit lost, first time you are visiting us?" the girl asked.  
  
It could not hurt to tell the truth that he felt quite unfamiliar with most of what he saw here. In fact he had not gambled since his transformation. And he doubted that the games were the same as in his time. There simply had never been any sense in gambling for him - he could always take what he wanted to have. Yet he had the feeling that if he found the right game, he could make this place work for him. But for that he needed to know the rules of all the games.  
  
"My first casino visit ever. I got bored lately and thought I might try and see if it brings a bit diversion."  
  
That seemed the right way to put his being new without sounding to weak. The whole experience was anyway degrading. What good was the destruction of the world without him being there to enjoy it? Especially when it left him in such an uncomfortable situation?  
  
"Well then, Sir, allow me to show you around," the girl said friendly and gestured him towards the tables.  
  
He got a brief version of every available game in the great hall. For most he had no interest: Although he was strong enough to affect the ball in the Roulette, he was not crafty enough to move it smoothly enough. It would be a bit suspicious when he was to win after the ball had jumped around against the laws of gravity and landed on the chamber with the number he had put his money on. This was no good at the moment.  
  
Those games lacked the possibility to get his powers to work for him. Especially since the house itself was too often included, and those dealers were very strong willed. After they had finished the tour of the great hall, the girl asked whether she could do anything else for him. Which he declined and so she turned around looking for someone else to help.  
  
Dracula walked past the tables that he thought might be worth trying, even though he had thought that this was going to be a bit easier. In the end he sat down at a free chair at the Black Jack table. At least the dealer here had something that would make loosing not a total loss. The woman was gorgeous, although she was the only one so far whose mind was closed off completely. He had looked in various heads. Most of the people here really thought they could win using a system.  
  
Here it was just luck, for the dealer had no options and was taking the cards out of the mixing machine. His eyes observed the woman's hand which handed him his cards after he had placed his bet. She had a seven and he eighteen, so he did not ask for another card. The man to his right was snickering for he had twenty, the plain woman with the black hair busted and the old hag at the end hit 21 with her third card.  
  
Luckily the dealer busted also and he won another twenty. Feeling lucky he placed. And lost them in the next round for the dealer hit twenty points with several cards and that was more than his seventeen. Everyone else lost also. She just pouted and had a playful look on her face as she removed his chip. Unable to resist, he placed 100 as his next bet. And he was lucky. Next bet was 200, and again he was lucky.  
  
Now he was the one to smile and she just shrugged her delicate shoulders. It was a real shame that the table covered the rest of her figure, for what he saw so far was very appealing. Besides her extraordinary beauty there was something in her blood that called to him. 'Maybe,' he thought smiling viciously, 'I can buy her when I win enough.' He placed 300 on the table and hung with his eyes upon her wrist were her pulse was beating calmly and yet tempting.  
  
"Hit me", he said and realised that he had not fourteen but eighteen. As the three showed up, his neighbour fell almost from his chair in laughter. "Boy, you are one lucky guy!"  
  
Dracula looked a bit taken about the padding on the back that accompanied the statement. Next thing he heard was the dealer, saying with a sweet voice: "Want to take bigger risks?"  
  
"Why not?" he said and put all 800 on the table. Being careful was not his strong side, but after all he had lived in the knowledge that he was invincible and everlasting for centuries. He had to show her and regretted it immediately. 'Too impulsive.'  
  
He stared at her hands passing out the new cards. Now it was the vampires turn to gloat as he received now one and a half the sum he had bet extra. Despite not being so lucky the others seemed to enjoy his success as well, especially the hag. 'Did she blink her eye at me?' If he still had had a stomach it would probably have turned upside down.  
  
"If that goes on, your luck will cost me my job," the dealer said, kidding, for he was nowhere near the real high rolling, but still there was something about him, she could sense.  
  
"He, pal, do you do that often?" he was asked by his neighbour, while the plain woman left her place.  
  
"Actually it is my first time, I thought it might be entertaining, but it still is rather boring," he said with a cold expression, so he could hide his anger that this primitive man not only had touched him, but called him 'pal'.  
  
"Really? Maybe I could interest you in a round of poker?" the man said. "By the way, the name is Claude."  
  
"Poker?" Dracula asked for he had not heard about that game from the employee who had showed him around.  
  
"Oh, that's a great game, you get five cards, either the best combination wins, or the guy with the best bluff", his new acquaintance explained.  
  
"Sirs, please bet, or leave", the bewitching dealer said.  
  
Dracula moved his 1200 stack forward and returned back to listening to the other man explaining poker. He gave the girl a faint smile as she had to pay him again. "I think it sounds far more interesting", Dracula smiled. 'Especially because I will know when you are bluffing.'  
  
They left the table and Claude lead him to another employee behind the information desk. "Hiya, sweetie, are there any open poker rounds?"  
  
The man, who looked even more ridiculous with the red silk hat, pressed a few buttons and told them that room number twenty-eight had only four players who would probably most grateful for more money entering the game. Dracula could see Claude rubbing his hands in his mind thinking that he had found an easy victim. Feeling again like he was actually the predator, the vampire left the great hall with dark and happy thoughts.  
  
"Mr. Logan, Sir?" Ready asked.  
  
The Casino manager looked up to his assistant who was holding a phone in her hand covering the lower part with the other one.  
  
"What is it?" He hated being bothered when looking through the books.  
  
"Security wants you to drop by - they have an interesting phenomenon and need your advice."  
  
"Tell them I am on my way!"  
  
Scraping his heavy chair over the floor he rose from his desk and walked to the door. Ready informed the security staff and continued with her work. There was a lot aggravation in the room for debts left behind thanks to the Mad Hatter'sTeahouse massacre and Logan was the pest ever since.  
  
The security room was only down the corridor and Logan could tell that not everyone was happy that Foldon, his head of security, had called him down here. He approached the monitor Foldon was standing next to.  
  
"So what is it?" There was no question that there would be a reprimand when it was not important enough.  
  
"See for yourself, Sir," his employee stated.  
  
Logan observed for a while; but did not saw anything and growled angrily: "Is that some kind of joke?"  
  
"Please, the player on the most left chair."  
  
"There is no player on …," Logan began and stopped. "Who of the girls is it?"  
  
"It's not on of the Lamias - it is a man - never saw him before," Foldon reported. "Could it be?"  
  
"Most likely. Good work, I shall inform Lace that we have him," he said, picking up the phone.  
  
"Eh - sir, that was a recording," Foldon said, stepping back.  
  
"What?" Logan yelled and then he saw that the man on the next seat rose. He kept talking to the thin air besides him and since the other chair had moved as well, the 'invisible' stranger must have got up and was now accompanying him.  
  
"For now see that you locate him without drawing special attention to you," he ordered and then dialled up Lace's number.  
  
Lace was sitting in the dining room of his personal story. His guest for the evening was Lady Rain. The woman was inquiring him about the stranger with the outmost endurance.  
  
"Sanguina, you are way too curious, wait and see! Mysteries unravel themselves faster than you might think," Lace said calmly enjoying his omelette.  
  
"How can you be so calm? Haven't we already lost a great deal of servants in the last bloody rampage? If you are convinced that he is a vampire, you should get him here as fast as possible and explain him the rules!"  
  
"My dear, not we lost, I lost," the mage stated and his tone was that of a teacher lecturing a know-it-all student. "Besides, his presence is rather intriguing, he must be fairly old to have survived the demise of Dracula."  
  
"It makes him dangerous, don't you have enough trouble with the masked one?" Sanguina took another bit from her fish.  
  
"Why so worried? It's not like I can't handle any threat, or do you think my so called 'archenemy' would dare to face me in person?" Lace had again put up his soft almost not recognisable smile. "I can handle him and the stranger - besides, he might prove to be a valuable ally."  
  
Lady Rain hesitated for a moment, before she forced herself to smile: "Since when do you need allies?"  
  
"That is a pitiful person who attends to just what he needs," the mage replied and took another sip from his wine. "Oh, don't be concerned - there is no danger for your comfortable little life."  
  
That upset her a bit and she was quietly emptying her glass until she came up with another question: "So what about the surviving witch, why can't I judge her?"  
  
"Dear, don't you think you've had enough fun in the past days? And I", he put great emphasis on the I, "gave you the right to judge people, but not when it comes to political issues, so I really wonder why you are bringing this up."  
  
"I just like to see her properly punished."  
  
"Do not worry, I'll take care of it personally," Lace told her amused.  
  
The Lady smiled and was about to reply something when one of the servants stepped in with a telephone on a silver tray. "Sir, Mr. Logan from the Casino."  
  
"Oh, well", said the mage and put his fork aside. "Logan, what is it? - It's quite normal. - Yes, he is a vampire. - You don't say, Logan, accept it. - Just invite him to the Lounge, don't do anything else or unfriendly - Do I make myself clear? - Find a reason, but don't alert him!"  
  
Lace sighed, he hated being surrounded by these underlings. No matter how well-trained they were in everyday life - as soon as they dealt with him they became stumbling, incapable school-boys. "So my dear," Lace turned his attention back to his guest, "let's talk about something less business oriented." 


	7. The art of bluffing

A/N: Finally a new beta-read chapter (THX Margit)- I also like to thank Anukk for reviewing, I'm glad you like it.  
  
Chapter 7: The art of bluffing  
  
Claude led the Count to a quieter part of the casino. Behind a dark wooden door was a corridor lit with a soft, golden light and for the first time Dracula realised how expensive the wall decoration and the carpet was. His vampiric eyes were made for the dark, not for that kind of illumination. They passed a few doors and made a turn into another corridor and then suddenly Claude knocked and opened a door.  
  
In the middle of the room was a round wooden table which was occupied by three players and one dealer in the casino's attire. They looked up for a moment, but then they continued their game. The dealer was already out of the game. The two players next to him, a woman on his left side and a fat man on his right side, were very tense and exchanged glances while throwing chips in the pot. Opposite the dealer sat a teenager.  
  
The woman seemed to be the only person besides Dracula that was really elegantly dressed. She seemed to be in her late thirties and wore a tight dark red blazer, a black feather stole and a black hat with a short net veil before her face. "That is Virginia Handerson, the first violin in Lace's orchestra", whispered Claude, noticing Vladislaus' observations.  
  
The Count who was not really interested in the woman, she was too thin for his taste, too wrinkly, although she was not that unpleasant to look at, gazed slightly at his new acquaintance. The poor man had no idea that with every further too familiar comment of his the vampire longed more and more to rip out his throat.  
  
"Let's see what you got, Ginny!" said the fat guy, throwing a large sum into the pot.  
  
The woman's expression remained hard, her cold, blue eyes stared at her adversary. Her mouth looked as if she was amused, but she was not. The vampire sensed that she was bluffing and that the only other man still having his cards in his hands was having a much better combination. With no twitch of her face she unveiled her cards.  
  
"I knew it, I knew you were bluffing!" he cheered.  
  
That was a lie, if the Count had ever heard one. It was obvious that the big guy was not really popular at the table. He gave a nasty laugh as he scratched the chips towards him. Everything about him was a bit too much, actually way too much. His hat was enormous, he had three chins, his chair creaked under his weight and on most fingers, he had thick, golden rings.  
  
The teenage boy moved his fingers nervously. He also seemed to be rather new around the place. He had tried to wear something nice, but his shirt was too wide for his small chest and too short at the sleeves. The kid had a tie with suns and cactuses on it. Looked horrible, but from the looks he got, Vladislaus figured that his attire had the desired effect.  
  
"More players?" asked the man with the silk cap. "Please take a seat."  
  
"Come on, buddy! Lets pack'em," said Claude and moved to the next chair between the fat winner and the dealer.  
  
Dracula hid his slightly changing face by walking past Virgina's chair with his face to the wall. He was halfway ready to jump over the table and tear Claude's throat out. But he kept his anger under control and with his lips pressed neatly together the vampire took a seat between Virginia and the teenager. It was obvious to the Count that the others were familiar with his acquaintance, he even sensed a particular hostile emotion from the recent winner. The woman was more interested and the kid seemed to know him only from distance, but it was really trying to get more detailed information out of their heads.  
  
"Are you familiar with the house rules?" asked the house player.  
  
"Hell, no, he ain't known nothing about Poker till a few minutes ago," Claude explained rather uninvited.  
  
Dracula was raising an eyebrow at the remark before he turned his gaze toward the dealer. "Claude here told me the basics."  
  
"In that case I think the dealer should re-explain," said the fat guy.  
  
"No need for that, Harold. I was quite thorough!"  
  
"Maybe you misinformed your new pal a bit?" the fat man kept on nagging.  
  
Vladislaus was not really in the mood for endless explanations or those childish feuds between these boring and disgusting mortals. Had Claude lied to him, Vladislaus would have known. At least so far his telepathy was restored. For now he just ended the boring argument between Claude and Harold by telling the dealer that he had the feeling that he had been informed properly.  
  
He wondered if it had been the overdose of blood that brought him back his powers or if they had returned before. They would have been useful on this man who had told him about the Nightcrawlers. Maybe he should not have given up trying to test whether his powers had returned or not, but it had been so frustrating during the first years. It was anyway too late and Dracula had other worries at the moment.  
  
"Then I shall explain only the house rules, but feel free to ask, in case you have still questions," the dealer began. "To join in you have to make an opening bet of 20, then its five concealed cards each, cutter opens the first betting round, next player can either hold or raise the bet unless he folds. The remaining players have the one time option to change from one to three cards. Cutter is the last one to change cards. After that the final betting begins."  
  
"Sounds interesting," the Count smiled briefly.  
  
Quickly he realised that his first plan, namely to pay his toll and watch the first round to figure out what he had to do, had been a bit too hopeful. He grasped quickly how the game worked and he knew who was bluffing and who not, but he lacked the experience to make it work for him.  
  
His companions were a strange group and his effort in entering their current thoughts was very demanding, especially since he had to slip in and out of five minds in a short period of time. In the end it helped that all of them were so different. More complicated were their little chats, something the Count tried to keep out of. It was equally important to know how good he could bluff, even in case someone had a good hand. The first three times he had not one pair and although went in for the new round hoping to get better cards, all he ended up with was rubbish and his chips grew fewer in numbers.  
  
A lucky threesome had got him a few chips back, but so far he had witnessed eleven rounds and was still figuring out how to use his knowledge to win. Especially since it felt horrible to drop out so soon of most rounds. The dealer and Virginia were watching him suspiciously and would probably not be intimidated by a more persistent bluff. The teenager, William or Billy, was a random player anyway and his stack of chips changed constantly from low to high.  
  
Harold and Claude relied a lot on their intuition and on luck. Claude a bit more on the first and Harold on the last. To both of them he was just a rich guy with a purse they could empty easily. Still watching, he was sure that he was able to figure out how to handle them. The Count's chips decreased slightly and still he played more risky to lure them out.  
  
By the time he had lost half of his money, the vampire had figured out how to pull their strings. Billy was not that random at all, he was also cheating. He played for Virginia. It had taken him some time to realise it. Although he had been suspicious about her not eying him the way he was used to in women looking at him, it only occurred to him later, that every time she tapped with just her three middle finger tips on the table the boy began to raise the odds.  
  
No matter what cards the boy had, it was a sign that Virginia had at least a pair. She was an experienced bluffer, but she also had often good cards, like pairs and once even a full house. The Count noticed that her signal to the boy changed every now and then. Besides she was very subtle. In return, when Billy had good odds, he stopped scratching his pimples for that time. The dealer seemed to be blind to this, but then again his concentration was mainly focused on Harold, who had already been banned from the Casino for half a year, according to Claude's nagging.  
  
Dracula's 'teacher' was most of the time right about assessing whether someone was bluffing or not, he had a lot of experience in watching people. Still Claude was not sure about his new 'buddy' and could not possibly predict whether Dracula was bluffing or not. Harold was also quite confused on how to handle the new player. Especially since the vampire had taken an effort not to show any signs of strategy. After all, the other players could not possibly predict what he was actually doing.  
  
As Vladislaus began to implement his gambling strategy, he started with a round were two of his players seemed to have only low pairs while the rest had to deal with a load of rubbish. The Count's hand was not that good, but he bet so confidently that neither Claude nor the dealer suspected a bluff, while the rest had dropped out pretty quickly. So he continued.  
  
In the end, it was actually hardest to deal with Virginia and Harold. Claude was not so daring anymore as long as he had nothing but some low cards. Once Dracula even lost with a pairs of ten against him, but that was not tragic at all. His opposite player just grew more confident in his opinion that the new player was not that experienced and raised only when he had something good. And often enough the vampire had. At first, his cards had been generally bad, but in the end Vladislaus had some good ones.  
  
Most of the players began to build up certain anger towards Claude and/or the Count, for they thought that one of them had lied about his poker experience. Virginia became quite mad at Vladislaus, for she thought not only that he was a routine player, but also that he had discovered her little cheat. So, eventually she told the others that she was leaving the table for today with honey-sweet voice. "But before I go, I would really like to know who our lucky player is."  
  
"I bet you do," Vladislaus retorted, unimpressed. Although he longed to reveal his name and who he was, the vampire knew that it was best to wait until his powers would be restored. It was worse enough that he knew how weak Dracula had become there was no need for him to spread the news.  
  
The only time he had mentioned his name before had been in a small village just before he had had his first contact with the Crusaders and firearms that could fire several shots in less than ten seconds. He had met the first priest since his demise and simply could not resist. But since he had killed him, nobody had seen Count Vladislaus Dragulia flee, just an un-dead man with a pony-tail.  
  
"Why the secrecy?" Harold asked. "Got something to hide?"  
  
The tension at the table grew, but the vampire just looked at the fat man with a bored expression.  
  
"Haven't we all?" Dracula replied and gave Virginia an unmistakable smile.  
  
"Well, I shall find out soon enough, but now I don't want to disturb the game anymore!"  
  
The woman manoeuvred her chips into her purse, wished everyone good luck and left the room. Vladislaus wondered what her partner in crime was doing now without her. So far he gave no sign of leaving the table himself. The dealer told everyone to make their bets and began to hand out the cards once more.  
  
Although part of the aggression had gone with Virginia and her strange and hurried exit, it was still there and would continue to grow as long as the Count kept winning and backing out immediately when somebody had a splendid hand. There were already huge stacks by the Count's side, while the others had lost almost everything they had begun with. Claude had even got himself a credit, because he wanted to prove that he had not known that the player he introduced as a newbie would turn out this way.  
  
By now, everyone believed that Dracula had lied about his past experience with poker, but since they were not able to prove it, the vampire remained relaxed. Good losers were rare, even if the stakes were just demanding money as a tribute and not their lives.  
  
"I think there is something fishy going on here," Harold said eventually, as Vladislaus backed out immediately once the fat man got a complete street.  
  
It was kind of fun to see the mortal so outraged with his face turning red. Especially since the dealer would probably call security and have Harold thrown out and not Dracula. The vampire just sat quietly in his chair and replied: "And why are you looking at me?"  
  
"Because you are cheating!" The fat man rose.  
  
"Don't blame your bad luck on me!" Vladislaus replied, still calm as a gravestone.  
  
"Harold, sit down, the gentleman has not broken any house rules and unless you have prove that he is cheating, sit down or leave."  
  
The man began to lower his frame back into the chair. "I'm sure he is and when I figure out how, I hope they break his back."  
  
But just as he was about to touch the chair he caught the amused smile on the vampire's face and exploded. This time, the chair trembled as the massive frame of Harold smashed against it. Chips were falling to the ground as he tried to grab the Count by his throat, but he was just leaning back and the table stopped the fat man in mid-air. Before the outraged player could make a second attempt, the door sprung open.  
  
"That is kind of interesting to watch," Logan said aloud to himself. In front of him was a monitor, displaying a certain poker table in one of the rooms at the back. It had taken security long enough to spot the stranger on the cameras. It gave the scene a certain touch seeing the chips and cards moving by themselves.  
  
Ready had already brought him his third tea after he had informed Lace that the stranger was trying his luck at one of the poker tables. But the fact that he was condemned to watch this little scenario also had his good sides. That incompetent dealer seemed to miss the fact that the woman and the boy worked together in a way that were at odds with the house policy. Besides, he was sure that the stranger was not that clean himself.  
  
But that was not his problem. If Lace wanted to deal with him personally, then by all means, he could have him. Logan had enough problems at hand. Normally he would have sent somebody in for the boy and woman, but he did not want to scare the stranger off. Besides he knew that with her being the first violin he could not simply give Virginia the usual treatment.  
  
Still he had security personnel standing by in case there was any trouble or one of the cheaters was leaving the table. Which in this case was the female player. He ordered one of the security personnel to escort her into the cellar. They had nice little cells for cheats. One should think that people would learn that he was no one to toy with.  
  
His predecessor had been too soft. Logan did not bother too much about the fate of caught cheaters himself. He simply handed his candidates over to the Lady Rain. He wondered how long it had taken Raymond, who had been the last one stupid enough to try anything under his roof, to freeze to death.  
  
But while Virgina at least knew to back up, when she was losing, the men at the table became more daring and aggressive. Logan saw the disaster coming. After all, Harold had once been caught for cheating himself. For that, he was making a lot of noise. Had he been in charge then, the fat guy would have been a lot thinner today.  
  
"Security, we have a disturbance in room twenty-eight", he told his men, "but wait for me before you do anything."  
  
Logan hurried to the poker rooms and heard that he had been absolutely right. But then again, he had been long enough in that line of business to spot this kind of trouble before it was actually happening. He loudly opened the door. From one second to the other the struggle broke off. Actually the others had kept out of it and so it was only Harold trying to get a grab on the stranger.  
  
Nonetheless everyone's face adopted a whiter shale of pale at his entry with the exception of the stranger whose face was already as pale as the moon outside. First of all, Logan turned his attention to him. Dracula was the only one not upset by his appearance and remained calm. With Lace's orders in the back of his head he addressed the vampire.  
  
"I'm sorry for the mess, Sir. Why don't you wait in the Lounge while I have this circus cleaned up."  
  
Dracula had been fascinated by the whole situation, but from the moment this old man had entered the room things had become really intriguing. The others were afraid of him. Vladislaus assumed that he must be Logan, after all he knew that he was the manager of the casino and must have some backbone. Still no matter how well trained he was for his age, to the immortal he was just someone who had already seen his better days.  
  
His head was balding, the rest of his hair was white and his face showed wrinkles that came from a hard life. His frame, hidden under an elegant suit, was strong, but the manager was not tall or in anyway extraordinary. As the Count tried to access the man's currents thoughts he realised that there was something more to the mortal nevertheless, for he seemed to possess the ability to shut him out. One moment it seemed completely easy, and then all he got was this blank notion.  
  
"That is a nice idea", Dracula replied consequently.  
  
Something seemed fishy about this offer, but then again he tried to stay level headed.  
  
"Would you like to collect your winnings or shall we just collect your chips for you, Sir?" Logan asked.  
  
"I think I collect for tonight."  
  
"Alright, the Lounge is on the second floor, to the right down the corridor you'll find the elevator. I am sure one of the hostesses can show you the way."  
  
He had the impression that Logan did not like him in particular, but he was obviously not willing to make a scene in his casino. Or maybe, he was imagining things. It was not very comfortable that once again his senses became useless again, although it was only due to a certain person's strength of will. He still could invade the other's minds like he had done before and even the security guards. For someone like Logan he probably needed to be at full strength. Smiling, Dracula left the room. 


	8. Curiosity

Chapter 8: Curiosity  
  
Pacing down the corridor he realised that he had no idea what an elevator was. Obviously some device that would get him up to the next floor, so hopefully it would not be too hard to recognise. He walked to the end of the corridor there found two doors with two wings made of steel plates. There seemed to be no handle and while examining one of the doors, it opened.  
  
A young man was inside and he was startled as he saw Dracula so close in front of him. "Gee, man, you gave me heart attack."  
  
"Not really, but I can - if you want me to," Vladislaus smiled hungrily.  
  
The mortal looked young and attractive, his blood was probably strong and delicious. Unprepared for the vampire's reaction blood rushed through his veins and made him blush. The fact that the Count was staring at his neck or more precisely at the pulsating vein under his neatly tanned skin made the young man even more nervous. Quickly, he rushed past the strange, pale man and stumbled down the corridor.  
  
Following his steps, Dracula saw Claude leave the room with heavy steps and return to the main hall. Since the doors were closing he stopped his observations and entered the elevator. Two hundreds years ago the mortal would have ended as a prime meal but today he had been lucky. Vladislaus thought that maybe he should take care that his prey from now on should be extremely young and agile.  
  
His last two snacks had been the Nightcrawlers and none of them had been nearly as promising as this young fellow or the cute dealer at the black jack table. In the past he had never been especially selective. First because he had not needed to feed that often and second since there had always been someone around to suit his taste. Some worker with strong blood both in taste and power - in his summer castle there had always been something in need of repair. More consciously he had searched for girls to play with. Although his tastes concerning their blood were quite different. Like Aleera he preferred young, inexperienced women while Verona was mainly interested in their even younger male counterparts.  
  
And yet, in the past time he remembered he had taken less and less blood, stopped toying and had found barely the energy to dally with his brides. That was until he heard of Dr. Frankenstein and his experiments. The rumours had intrigued him and his brides had nearly gone mad with joy on the perspective that they might after all have their own children. Which was a mystery to the Count since during the first centuries of their un-dead existence they had seemed so glad to escape this purpose of their mortal life.  
  
They always were so easily thrilled and lived out new ideas. Constantly busy with something and yet there had always been one of them at his side. Only later had he realised that he had been bored. His plan and Van Helsing's return had, of course, brought him more entertainment than he could have possibly wanted. On the one hand it had proved to be quite disastrous, but on the other hand it had brought him into this new world where everything was different, more difficult and there was so much he wanted to do and to know, so much to discover.  
  
Shoving the unwanted memories and thoughts aside the vampire tried to focus on solving how to operate the elevator. Doing the next best thing he pressed the button next to the "Two" on the panel at the right cabin wall. The small room began to move and above the door a small arrow moved from the one towards the two.  
  
The door opened once more and revealed a corridor that led to a double door covered with green coloured leather. A dark woven carpet with different dark red and brown colours separating the little hall that lay to the right and left of the elevator. There were leather couches of the same colour as the door lining the wall where the elevator doors opened, but also opposite of it on the right side.  
  
On the left was a long counter with a man and a woman behind it. They were dressed in white and black, yet Dracula was sure they were working here. Something about their clothes was uniform-like. There were only two other men sitting on the other side in one corner and talking softly to each other. They looked briefly at the newcomer, while the other two were beginning to smile at him openly.  
  
"Good evening, Sir! The Lounge is directly behind the green doors," said the woman as he approached her.  
  
"Hey, why does he get permission so easily, while we were waiting for weeks to get in?" asked one of the two males from the corner.  
  
Dracula did not pay attention to them, he just felt good about being allowed in where others were not. Smiling at the polite female he walked down the corridor.  
  
"If you keep on being this impertinent, you'll never get in," the man behind the counter replied. The Count heard the girl giggle muffled.  
  
The vampire wondered what kind of place this might be as he pushed open both wings of the door.  
  
He was, however, not prepared for the sight that presented itself to him in the other room. Although it was the strange music with fast hard accords and this powerful female voice that got to his ears first, it was the woman in the middle of the room that caught his attention. Even the bouncers had their gaze fixed upon her.  
  
Although he had seen barely dressed women downstairs, this one got through him like a hot knife through a piece of butter. She moved her body with elegance and dignity despite the fact that she only one piece of clothing was covering her erogenous zones. The young woman was not that well build on her front side, but that hardly mattered. Her body was firm and yet female. Alone those slim muscled legs typical for a dancer… Vladislaus could not even remember the last time he had had such legs wrapped around his hips.  
  
In fact it had been a long time since he had had sex at all. In the past years he had just been too hungry and even before his demise he had not had a mortal woman in bed with him for he did not remember how long. Not that he had not enjoyed his brides, but in the end it had not been so much about enjoyment than about productivity.  
  
Very much too his disappointment, the young dancer bowed a goodbye to her captive audience and disappeared with the last beats of the song through a series of flic-flacs. Dracula stepped closer in the meantime and almost immediately the curtain that took one beauty away revealed another. This time the woman had raven-black hair and was much more petite, even more than any of his brides. Still there was a cool, dominant air about her.  
  
The song this time matched her type and movements. Slower, and the female voice, wherever it came from, sung different, deeper and yet softer. Vladislaus was so fascinated about her expression that it escaped him at first that she wore more than any of the other women he had seen in the casino. Tight blue pants and a dark blazer with high heeled boots. Despite the fact that she had closed her eyes as she moved her body with the precision of a ballet dancer to those strange musical sounds, the Count put on his best seductive smile.  
  
Finally after one minute, her meanwhile open eyes turned in his direction. The vampire stepped closer and her gaze fell at him. Only that she did not react the way Dracula had expected. As if it was part of her performance, she focused on him, but her whole body language just seemed to say: "Stay away from me."  
  
The Count almost did not realise that his smile vanished as he was trying to pay more attention to the overall message the woman was bringing along. The song was about unfulfilled lust, loneliness and suicidal tendencies. The dark haired girl brought the lyrics to life with her every movement. It made her reaction to him even harder to understand. She must at least once have felt these emotions to display them so well.  
  
It was shortly before the end of her dance as he suddenly heard Logan's voice behind him.  
  
"Your money lays ready downstairs for you to pick up, when you decide to leave. You are good for 50.000, now."  
  
"It did not look that much", Dracula said with an arrogant grin on his face. It was so much fun to stir somebody's anger when he was incapable of doing anything to stop it.  
  
"Since the game was interrupted so untimely, may I invite you to a drink on the house?"  
  
Logan did not sounded as if he was offering anything, it seemed more to be a pathetic attempt to threaten the vampire.  
  
"I doubt I'd like any of your 'drinks'," was his true enough reply.  
  
"I thought no vampire could resist the offer of some nice warm and freshly harvested blood," the casino manager teased back.  
  
"In that case..:," Dracula replied and followed the man who was heading to the bar in the Lounge. The vampire was wondering what was behind this offering. Was it just his sense of duty, despite the fact that he hated the particular guest or was he planning on something?  
  
They both sat on the high chairs which had immediately been left by their former occupants when the couple arrived. Seconds later a glass filled with the most delicious smelling red liquid was placed in front of the Count.  
  
"Welcome to the Casino Infernale," Logan said holding up a glass filled with cold milk.  
  
"Thanks," the vampire replied amused. Briefly he inhaled the fragrance before drinking. There seemed to be nothing wrong with the blood. He could tell a few things about the victim that seemed to have been afraid a great deal. "Young male, quite nice, the scent of fear is just about right."  
  
"We don't like cheaters in this place and we always put them to good use," Logan grinned with the meanest expression Dracula had ever witnessed on a mortal.  
  
But now the vampire knew at least what this whole episode was about. But he remained unimpressed, maybe not completely, he was not afraid about any consequences for him, but the competence of the manager caught his liking. Maybe the self-conscious personnel was indeed better than those pathetic dwergers he had always used to occupy. And ugly outcasts of society had not proved to be the best choice also. Vladislaus became more curious on meeting other persons that worked for Lace - and the ruler of this city himself of course.  
  
"Sir? Excuse me," he heard a young male voice next to him. Turning he saw that the boy was looking not directly at him but at the mirror that was at the back of the bar.  
  
"Yes?" the vampire replied with an annoyed hiss.  
  
"Sorry, just had to check if you're really the one without a reflection. I have this letter for you."  
  
Unwillingly he leaned a bit back on his chair and watched his surroundings. This time he paid less attention to the current dancer, which was actually a real shame since she was a remarkable belly dancer. Instead he scanned the other persons for hostile thoughts. A few times it was as if he hit a wall instead of entering their current thoughts and emotions. He remained alerted and nearly forgot to take the letter.  
  
"Well go on, read it, no need to panic, if Lace had wanted you dead, you would not have left that room downstairs," Logan said coolly.  
  
"I'm not panicking, I just hate to waste blood." Dracula stared back at the manager. Finally the mortal gave up and left with an expression that were meant to cover up his loosing this eye-duel. The Count used the time to relieve the messenger of his document. The paper seemed to be old and had wax seal. A strange and very detailed dragon wrapped around a large L could be discerned on the small black wax.  
  
He broke it. The notice was short and he saw that it was indeed signed by Lace. The handwriting was very graciously - artistic like those of the monks that had used to copy ancient texts or praying books.  
  
Dear Visitor to my quite little city,  
  
'Very little and very quite,' Dracula thought unimpressed.  
  
I'd very much like you to meet me at my tower. Don't misunderstand this for an order; I welcome everyone that does not disturb the peace of my city. I just think it could make things easier for you, if you came and talked to me. This city benefits so many who have taken the road away from god's grace, including me, that I am sure it could do the same for you. If not, you have my word that you remain unmolested till the next sunrise.  
  
Not sure if he should feel offended or honoured he crumpled up the parchment and closed his fist around it. He had no choice. He would feel forever like a coward if he did not take this risk. He was almost sure that Lace was a man of his word, but to trust a dark mage owning his own city up to the last person in it was simply against his nature. With fast steps he left the lounge.  
  
It seemed that they already knew about him anyway, he thought pacing down the corridor, and thus not going would not only appear as an act of cowardice but also foolishness. He felt his rage boiling up as he took the elevator down. Vladislaus was mad at Lace, but as walked back to the entrance past the corridor and into the crowded area he came to think that this might just been be the case because he hated to be not the one in power.  
  
For if he had been the one doing the calling, he'd been afraid if he was the person that was called upon like this. The only thing that calmed him down was the fact that Lace, judging from what Dracula saw of the mage's actions was very much different from his. And this was something that was not necessarily to the vampire's disadvantage.  
  
His momentary outburst of wrath was completely gone by the time he had got his winnings paid out to him. It was for sure a lot of money and so he took the tellers offer and had an account opened for him at the casino's bank. The service of this house pleased him once more as it was absolutely no problem not to reveal his name. He just had to keep a certain number ready that was handed to him in an envelope.  
  
"I hope to see you again soon", said the teller.  
  
Putting one tenth of his money into his inner breast pocket, Dracula replied: "I'm looking forward to it."  
  
He was heading towards the tower as he recalled something and changed his direction towards the shop he had been to earlier. Since it was after midnight it was already closed, but Vladislaus sensed that someone was still inside and so he knocked at the glass door. The old man came looking and like the vampire had expected, he was let in.  
  
"Well, Sir, it is late," the man said trying to sound polite about it.  
  
"I'd like to acquire that coat I tried on earlier", he smiled in return.  
  
"Oh, so you have been lucky in the Casino." The old guy sounded glad about it.  
  
Leaving his old clothes in storage, he walked out to the street now with the heavy leather coat. That was much better. Although he was not bothered by the cold he felt less complete wearing only indoor attire. If he was about to walk into a trap he might at least do his best to present something for the coatroom. Everything else he would worry about after the meeting. The invitation made its way to his pocket, meanwhile neatly folded, and the Count continued his way to Lace's tower.  
  
Lace sat at his fire-place. Dinner was long over, but the Lady Rain still kept him company. It was of course only because he had invited the stranger. The mage had anticipated that or else he would have shown greater care hiding that he had sent out the invitation. In fact her presence might prove to be useful.  
  
"Sanguina, can't you sit still?" he asked her.  
  
"At least someone here should be a little bit worried!"  
  
"That's what you want to call it!" Lace was already bored. The Lady Rain was such a bad actress.  
  
So the ringing phone proved to be a welcome distraction. One of the servants brought it back to him. Anxiously he listened who might be at the other end. The mage hoped it was not another of Logan's calls.  
  
"Yes, Lace here," he straightened his back in surprise as he heard the caller's voice. "What can I do for you?" - - "So, what sort of information?"  
  
There was a long pause and the Lady tried to listen in, but naturally could not hear anything.  
  
"Thank you - that is indeed interesting news."  
  
He hung up and turned toward his guest with a satisfied smile. "My dear, you never guess who has come to my little city." 


	9. King of the city

Chapter 9: King of the City  
  
Lace's Tower seemed to be made of silver glass and black marble. The closer he had gotten to the building the stronger became the scent of power and darkness. He wondered if Lace had the same ability and would therefore know that his power was not nearly as strong as his at the moment.  
  
Standing close before the entrance, the Count could see through the glass doors into the ground floor. Most of it was filled with green plants he had never seen before. In the middle of this green oasis was a counter with four impressive looking men in a dark blue uniform.  
  
Reluctantly Dracula decided to open the door and step through instead of warping through it. It was best not to demonstrate the powers he had already got back. Entering the lobby he recognised more security guards. They were hidden by the plants and sat on tables. The vampire counted about a dozen extra men. He just hoped that in case Lace tried anything those glass windows up were they would meet were easier to pass through.  
  
"Good day, Sir, may I assume that you are the stranger whom Lace invited?" one of the guards asked him as he had approached their counter.  
  
"That is correct."  
  
"Then please head toward the elevators on the right," the man pointed to a corridor made by ivy-plants. "Someone will guide you from there."  
  
Kind of annoyed by all this procedure while he felt so vulnerable Vladislaus strode towards the elevator like some businessman with a full schedule. Only a few seconds after he had reached the group of steel doors that were almost completely hidden from the rest of the lobby one of them opened.  
  
A girl with short-blue hair was standing inside the elevator. She was about a head smaller than the Count, but appeared to be almost as pale. That might have been a result of the colour of her hair, but also of the plain black dress she was wearing. The young woman appeared to be slightly under weight.  
  
"If you would be so kind as to follow me, I am supposed to show you the way," she told him.  
  
Entering the small room, Dracula noticed that he had not been wrong about her watching him with the greatest care. Almost as if she knew who or at least what he was. He took his position in the middle of the cabin. It left the girl standing in front of him because she was operating the controls to his left. With a swift notion, the elevator moved rapidly towards the upper levels.  
  
The vampire saw that goose bumps were forming on the skin of her back. His finger's slightly touched the spot between her shoulder blades and within seconds they appeared there as well and covered the whole of her uncovered back. Vladislaus noticed it with great satisfaction, also she almost immediately turned around and stared angrily at him, but did not dare to say anything. Much to his surprise her thoughts and feelings were blocked to him as he tried to enter her mind.  
  
"It is that cold?" he teased her.  
  
"You would not know, would you?" she replied.  
  
Still upset, her voice had a clear inquiring tone under all that anger. But she was good at controlling it. So, she quickly continued: "Maybe a soft breeze as the doors closed."  
  
"What is your name?" Dracula asked.  
  
Three heartbeats long the girl remained silent. From the way her body became tense he would not have been surprised to hear a mental "none of your business" in case he had been able to read her mind. But Lace had drilled his personnel to be quite polite.  
  
"It's Verbatina," she said finally.  
  
"A rather unusual name," the vampire told her honestly.  
  
"You learn to life with it."  
  
The doors opened and the sign above the door displayed the number forty-eight. "This way, please."  
  
Verbatina guided him along a corridor with dimmed light. The whole floor had something unsettling about it. It was not really that dark, the carpet and the walls, even the doors, were in light grey tones. Plants and paintings were the only decorations. Maybe it was all about those paintings, but the Count was not sure. They were alien, disturbing even to him - like coming from another world with a different hell. It still might be the whole appearance or the fact that he just felt dreadful about this meeting in general.  
  
The girl walked steadily a few feet before him and made sure that he was still there. After passing at a t-section to the left she knocked at a unsuspicious looking door before opening it. There was no doubt that Lace was waiting in the room behind for him. Doing his best to look confident, he strode in.  
  
Lace was sitting in an armchair in front of a fireplace, his feet on a foot-stool of the same design. Dracula could not see his eyes, because they were hidden by glasses, despite the dim light coming from the fire. He seemed utterly relaxed. The Count had all this time expected to find a much older man in an utterly different set of clothing. This man appeared physically younger than himself and surprisingly athletic. His whole presence made the vampire hungry.  
  
"Nice coat," Lace broke the ice.  
  
"Thanks," Dracula replied still a bit coolly. The first impression was immediately followed by the not unexpected ability of his host to completely shield his mind. He doubted that he could influence this person at any point.  
  
"Verbatina, why don't you take the gentleman's coat?" the mage suggested and the girl nodded once before she went over to Vladislaus. He let her have it and heard his host saying: "Why don't you take a seat, Count?"  
  
That was not a good sign. Unable to stop himself he replied: "How do you know I am a Count?"  
  
Lace pointed towards the sofa standing opposite of his chair. "I have a lot of informants in this city."  
  
Slowly the Count sat down. "So you know who I am?"  
  
"You seem to know my name and status." Lace said with a smirk. "But I'll tell you what I know for certain. You are Count Vladislaus Dragulia, born 1422, killed 1462 by the Left Hand of God, you sold your soul in exchange for a new life, immortality and power. You ruled Transylvania and the surrounding countries known as Dracula for some centuries until you were stopped once more by the Left Hand of God - and nobody ever heard again of you - until now."  
  
Dracula felt not exactly comforted by the fact that Lace knew so much about him. "I guess I should feel flattered that I am still recognised and remembered after nearly 200 years of - hmm absence." He hesitated a moment, but decided to add: "And as to knowing you. I am heard your name mentioned a lot, but that is about the sum of it."  
  
"I certainly have left my mark on this city," Lace said thoughtfully. "But then again - without me there wouldn't be a city."  
  
"And that's going to convince me to bend to your rules."  
  
"Rules are what keep this city going. Even I submit to them," Lace took his feet of the foot stool. "There is a mechanism behind them. I'm sure you find that you'll gain more by following them instead of breaking them."  
  
Vladislaus gave it a thought. "Why are you so convinced that your rules are so important? I never had any and ruled for centuries."  
  
"Without wanting to insult you, but between putting a reign of terror upon a land and really govern a whole city in such a difficult time lies quite a difference. I admit terror is one of my instruments, but it goes beyond that." Lace interrupted himself and smiled: "Were are my manners, might I offer you a drink?"  
  
"I would not say no to another one," Dracula said thinking about the one at the casino.  
  
Before continuing, the mage pressed a button on his armchair. "The majority of the people here live in the Golden City. I protect their interest and guarantee them that as long as they stay in that part of the city and don't break the laws their lives remain untouched. In order to achieve this I have Merry Ville. Crime is legal there, people from the Golden City can live out their dark side at their own risk and people there can feed upon the people in the slums. And this keeps almost everyone happy - those who are not are too weak and few in numbers to do anything against it."  
  
Verbatina returned and watched the mage's explanations with a sour face. Lace saw it of course, but he seemed to be in an excellent mood and did not say anything about it. Maybe it was because he was more interested in his guest's reaction. The Count had to admit that this arrangement was both clever and cruel. However, he tried to maintain a more reserved expression. He was not happy about the restrictions, but he had to admire the set-up. "So you keep the people trapped, but they are too comfortable to bother about it."  
  
"Exactly. Of course, we do have some people here who think they are incredibly clever, but that is why I introduced such a strict law enforcement and there is only one sentence: death." He turned to Verbatina and said with a smile. "Why don't you bring our guest some blood, and some wine for me would be nice. While you're at it, ask the Lady Rain to join us."  
  
Lace turned back to Dracula. "I take it you heard the name as well."  
  
"Yes, indeed," the vampire replied. It was sort of mystery to him why someone like Lace had a woman by his side that would handle business matters. Although he had used to send out his brides to perform certain tasks, only few had known their names.  
  
"She lacks a lot of virtues, but Sanguina also has her useful sides. Besides, she is the only one in this city not afraid of me. Maybe because she need not fear for her soul, since she already sold it long ago. Just like we did."  
  
"I actually never met anyone else who had actually made a pact like this," Vladislaus admitted a bit surprised about the revelation.  
  
"Indeed it happens more often than one might think. Usually the pacts are more subtle and the people don't get nearly as much as they could have asked for. Which is kind of the beauty behind it."  
  
Dracula thought about the mage's words. He had never bothered to think that much about the matter. To his host, unnatural occurrences seemed to be even more natural than to him. He had to remind himself that he was talking to a man who employed ghouls clean up the city from dead bodies. Actually the vampire had never seen a crowded place which was as clean as the Golden City. The mage must spend a fortune on keeping it that way.  
  
"Do you mean that people make a pact without realising it?" Vladislaus came back to the topic.  
  
Lace smiled slightly. "Oh yes, definitely. It is not like you sign a contract. We acted consciously, but in other cases the bargain is simply fulfilled by both sides fulfilling the agreement. Or in case it is a long term agreement, the moment the person uses his or her unholy gifts."  
  
"How do you know this?"  
  
"I'm quite familiar with the laws of magic or anything supernatural for that matter. Despite the effort of certain religious groupings to spread misinformation, I have been able to determine quite a few facts. Not to mention that I can see if somebody has a soul, I can even see where it is bound to at the moment." Lace said cheerfully. "The blue haired girl - Verbatina - was originally a witch gifted with powers to do good, but she came no further than learning to use them for her own purposes, and considering the ease with which she sheds blood, she is bound for a ticket downstairs."  
  
"It is easy to fall from His grace, but honestly I could not care less. I started out as a knight of the Holy Order, but I learnt my lesson," Vladislaus said, remembering how faithfully he had served as a knight back then. He had not even committed an atrocity which had actually been part of his holy work, he had spared a life and refused to end it as he had been ordered. Quickly he shoved that memory aside. His life as a mortal was over and the only thing he remembered clearly was the feeling of betrayal.  
  
Unconsciously he had inhaled deeply a few times. Hate boiled in him, but as he suppressed the memory, it quickly faded away. The mage observed him carefully. So the vampire felt the need to say something, before his sour expression was misjudged for weakness.  
  
"I made it my business to drive the Order away from my country," the vampire smiled. "It worked out quite fine for a certain time."  
  
"The Left Hand of God - what ever happened back then, the effects seem to have still a hold on you."  
  
Dracula's jaw dropped. 'Damn it, he knows.' Letting out an almost inaudible growl of frustration, he looked Lace straight in the eyes. Or to be more precise right into his glasses, which hid the eyes from his sight. "A minor drawback, but at least it proved that I can't be destroyed."  
  
Lace replied by taking off his glasses. Fascinated, the Count stared at the black vastness that replaced the eyes of the mage. "You don't need to pretend. Your powers are almost non-existent. I can see that something is eating you up from within. There is nothing that can't be destroyed, nobody who hasn't got a weakness."  
  
The mage sat back in his chair, putting the glasses back where they belonged. Vladislaus realised suddenly that he was afraid. It was real fear that let his hand shake slightly. If only he had all his powers back, then it would not matter what plans his host had for him, he'd be able to deal with him. But without them he was not sure anymore if he was able to get out of here. Before he had the time to think about a smart remark, Lace spoke again.  
  
"I could help you get rid of whatever it is. You might not be aware of it, but not only your powers are recovering. It is feeding on the blood you drink as well."  
  
"Nonsense, I am getting back and you can't honestly think that I believe that you are going to help me."  
  
With that last sentence the door opened and Verbatina entered with a silver tray in her hands. Gently she closed the door with her backside and approached the two men. She tried not to look at any of them as she set down the tray on the small round desk that stood between the sofa and the armchair. She had three glasses and an equal number of decanters on it. One set was made of black glass and the other two were of the finest crystal.  
  
The dark ones she placed on the small table at Dracula's side, Lace got one of the crystal sets and Verbatina informed him that the Lady Rain would be with them shortly. Then she placed the last set at the other side of the table. With the tray in her hands, she bowed and was apparently glad that Lace dismissed her.  
  
"I have no reason not to, besides I am sick of the fact that everyone is afraid of me," the mage took up the conversation where they had left it.  
  
"I thought the Lady Rain wasn't afraid of you?" Dracula said still full of mistrust.  
  
Lace shook his head. "Wait till you meet her, then you will understand, why I am glad that you chose to come to my city. I'd like to have you as my guest. Have a chance to talk to someone who speaks his mind, rather than thinking about what answer might please me. I'd gladly help you regaining your powers if that makes you more comfortable."  
  
Vladislaus was surprised. He never would have thought about that. The vampire had been in the same situation himself. Even his brides had feared him when he had had one of his tempers. It would not have mattered anyway, they had never been suitable for a real conversation. What astonished the Count most was the fact that he realised that he never would have considered the option to have someone with equal strength or at least great power around him who would dare to speak his mind. And Dracula began to wonder why. 


	10. The absence of soul

10. The absence of soul  
  
Dracula was still thinking about Lace's offer to help him regain back his powers as suddenly the door opened and big person in a red dress strode in. The Count stared at her with disbelief. Could this be the infamous Lady Rain? Her style of dressing was almost as antique as the furniture and two of his brides would probably have fit inside that over-decorated atrocity she was wearing. Worse enough, he had the feeling this was not the first time he had met a woman like her.  
  
Lace's face told a whole history as he looked from the Lady to the Count. "May I introduce the two of you? Count, this is the Lady Sanguina Rain de Ravin."  
  
The Count had raised in shock. Now the woman actually dared to hold out his hand to him, expecting it to be kissed. Not really wanting to he took it and breathed softly on it. "A real gentleman, how charming," Sanguina said.  
  
"Sanguina, Count Vladislaus Dragulia better known as Count Dracula."  
  
The vampire silently bowed slightly while he was introduced, but really not that deep. The lustful glitter in the Lady's eyes did not escape his attention. He could not believe that Lace really suffered had her as a guest gladly. Still, aside from the tasteless appearance and the shameless staring there was power in this woman. It was almost as if her powers existence was shielded against people like him. Dracula wondered what she had exchanged her soul for.  
  
"So we have a new celebrity in town," concluded the Lady.  
  
"Actually the Count has not yet decided to accept my offer to stay as my guest, he still does not trust me," the mage interrupted her.  
  
"Understandable, but then again, I did not trust Lace either and accepted. As you can see, I'm still here," she said with a smile that was so breathtaking that a whole room could have easily suffer from death by asphyxiation.  
  
Dracula still felt that he had no choice but to accept this offer. A thought that vexed him, but it also dawned upon him that this might indeed be the only way to overcome his current crisis. If Lace was honest about his wish to have someone to talk to the Count knew he would profit immensely from it. First he thought whether this might be just an clever act. Also the idea never slipped his mind, he was almost sure it was not.  
  
Although the Lady had an aura of power and held an air of superiority, there was something that annoyed him beneath her proud gestures. And not just because he had the feeling he had been annoyed by someone like her before or because her round, chubby face painted over with all these red tones wobbled in an unattractive way as she formed a smile.  
  
"I see no reason not to accept. After all, as a guest I can always move on," Vladislaus replied.  
  
It was of course his purpose to see how Lace would react to the moving on part, but all the vampire could see on his opponent's face was an air of happiness.  
  
"I'm glad you decided to give it a try. I'll have a suite prepared for you," the mage settled the matter and pressed the button on his chair.  
  
"Are you a passionate dancer, Count?" the Lady asked curiously.  
  
"With a beautiful woman, I could dance for all eternity," Vladislaus replied, careful that his pronunciation left no room for her to believe that she might belong to his chosen dance partners.  
  
"I bet you are a magnificent leader on the dance floor," she continued to flirt with him.  
  
Dracula thought about the most efficient way to tell her off, but Lace was already interfering. "My dear, in case you haven't noticed, my guest is already tired by your blatant flirting."  
  
With a hurt look on her face, Sanguina leaned back on her side of the sofa, pouting. Only seconds later the room's attention was drawn to Verbatina. She entered once more and waited silently for Lace's orders.  
  
"See to that the Count's quarters are properly prepared, inform Parker and then, by all means, get for a change a good night's sleep, you have already dark circles around your eyes."  
  
Much to the vampire's surprise, the girl was not happy at all about this generous order. Instead her eyes betrayed that she was alerted, almost panicking. Then the flicker of emotions was gone and she seemed cool and concentrated once more. "Thank you, my Lord."  
  
At Lace's sign, she left with a bow. The mage was apparently very much amused by her reaction. At least that was the Count's impression. Strange and complicated relations seemed to be involved in the Mage's courthouse. It would probably quite entertaining to try and find a way through them.  
  
"So you are into skinny, half-dead corpse like girls, then?" the Lady Rain tried to tease him.  
  
"Sanguina, don't you think you are outdoing yourself quite a bit?" Lace said in an alarmingly low voice.  
  
In any other case Dracula would have hated it that somebody strode forward to fight his battles for him, but in this case, the vampire realised that the mage was as much annoyed by her behaviour as he. In fact it seemed that Lace had never expected her to behave like that. So Vladislaus decided to use this opportunity to return the favour.  
  
"Is she always like that or is it just her idea of making a bad first impression?" the Count asked his host as if the Lady was not even in the room anymore.  
  
"No, consider yourself honoured. Usually she is only interested in tortures. You're the first man she has shown this kind of interest in since she arrived," Lace replied, just as casually.  
  
"Fine," the Lady barked, and cursing under her breath, she left the room. With a loud bang, the door was smashed slammed shut.  
  
Lace took a deep breath and started to laugh. Dracula watched him for a minute with increasing puzzlement, until his host was finally able to say something.  
  
"You know, she is usually quite boring in her single mindedness, but I never saw her behave like this. Must be love at first sight."  
  
"Please, mind your words. I am beginning to feel sick. Even in times when a woman of her stature was considered to be very attractive I used to go for firm flesh to sink my teeth in. If I wanted to drink from her, I would have to stretch her neck so far that I would break it."  
  
"I would not know anything about that, but my taste goes more toward dancers," Lace confessed, but he seemed to be decidedly amused by the image the vampire gave. Then he took a sip of the almost abandoned wine.  
  
"Having seen them I can understand that very well," Dracula thought about three dancers - especially the middle one - he had seen. "And I thought I was doing pretty good with three brides."  
  
"I have so many of them, because I like to watch. All of them have to go through a lot of training to be accepted and awarded with my special protection," Lace said. "But I do have my favourites, for the time being."  
  
Dracula's sank quite abruptly. "Got your hands already on the best catches in town, eh?"  
  
"Not necessarily, but as I said earlier the rules are the rules. Still - I certainly would not mind you to choose one or more, if the girl wouldn't either," Lace said and refilled his glass.  
  
"That is something I can live with," the vampire replied. After all with his powers back in place he could easily make a girl agree to anything. Or did Lace know this? Right now it was of no importance. First he had to get back his powers. In the meantime, he would learn from Lace what ever there was to learn and then eventually he would decide what to do should the mage ever stand between him and his wishes.  
  
"Tomorrow is Halloween and like every year I am arranging a grand ball. In fact, nearly everyone in my service is busy with the preparations I'd have hoped that you'd be my guest of honour and open the ball," his host suggested.  
  
The vampire raised an eye brow at the fact that the mage used the word Halloween. But obviously this abbreviated form was now more common. Still 'All Hallows' Eve' had a much nicer ring, but the use of the older Celtic word seemed to be the more appropriate choice for a mage.  
  
"Well, I certainly won't mind, as long as I don't have to make the first dance with your other guest", Dracula said, pronouncing 'other' quite disgusted.  
  
Although the vampire felt at first quite honoured about this offer, he had the vague the feeling that Lace might use his assorted guest to show off in front of important allies. Then again, this would certainly not have explained the Lady Rain's presence, not by far.  
  
"Oh no, for that dance you may pick any girl you like - all the dancers from the Casino will be there," Lace said.  
  
"Then I know with whom I'll like to dance."  
  
Dracula could not imagine a better choice than the strange, small woman who had performed the sad dance. Maybe she would cease to be so rejecting once he had hold her close to him.  
  
"But you can't have seen too many of them," the mage said, amazed.  
  
"How many are there?" Vladislaus asked curiously.  
  
"Thirty-eight, twenty are women the rest men." He smiled softly. "I am really looking forward to see them dance tomorrow. They always rehearse a formation dance performed by at least thirty of them. It's a beautiful sight. Not that their individual performances aren't quite tasteful either."  
  
"It is surprising how popular and accepted those dancers seem to be," Dracula said, refilling his glass.  
  
The mage took another sip of wine. "Well, I took care that the church and their close-minded moralist attitude won't interfere too much in my city. They always annoyed me, although it would probably surprise you how open-minded certain Christian groups had become toward the end of the 20th century."  
  
"Oh considering that I come from the dark ages and spilled more innocent blood as a knight of the Holy Order than I did as a vampire, I was already surprised how far they had come during my time."  
  
"Yeah, the end of the witch-burning ages cost the devil a lot of souls," replied Lace.  
  
Vladislaus paused a moment, before uttering his train of thoughts: "There was a time when I was still wondering where a certain soul would end. But later all I wanted to do, was… actually I started to wonder what it was I really wanted. Now that I have seen a barely populated, nearly destroyed earth, just like I always had dreamt about - I don't like the idea that much anymore."  
  
"That is how I felt when I participated in the siege of the Vatican. Finally, we destroyed it, and Rome alongside. It was a real shame. But I used to be quite intemperate in my youth. It was such a beautiful city - a waste of energy."  
  
"What happened to all the cities? Travelling through Europe I saw only ruins and could not find any city intact," the Count became more and more interested in this conversation. Eagerly he emptied another glass of blood.  
  
Lace nodded. "I have been there - I don't know how it all came together, but it seems to me that the Holy Order was one day not able to compete with the growing power of our contract partner anymore. It all started in Paris with some obscure sect, their leader was some seriously demented devil worshipper. I'm not even sure whether he did it on purpose, but a large doorway to a nether circle of hell was opened and some very nasty demons leaped through the gate. It has been guessed that he and his followers forgot to build up a proper defence-shield. They were all killed and their blood kept it open for a whole week."  
  
"That explains a lot. I can remember having crossed path with some very unusual things," Dracula remarked, pensive.  
  
"That means a lot coming from you," the mage agreed.  
  
Vladislaus leaned back: "I don't know. It seems you have met even more demonic beings than I."  
  
His host nodded. "The largest city, far and wide, with almost no church influence… - it attracts a lot of things. Even demons have to feed …"  
  
"Was it your intention to create a feeding ground for monsters?"  
  
"Oh no, not at all," Lace hurried to explain, while he fetched a small silver pill box from his left jacket pocket. "I kind of like the comfort of the modern world. I wanted to keep it, even though the rest of the world was beginning to fall apart. So I used my powers and prevented the downfall of this city. It is now my own playground and eventually it will go down with me."  
  
"How convenient," Dracula said, full of doubt.  
  
"Feel free not to believe me. The Masked One did not either," the mage replied, dropping a pill in his glass.  
  
"The Masked One, who is he anyway?"  
  
"My self-appointed rival. Wants to take over the city and rule in my stead. At first his pathetic attempts tended to lighten up my days, but with his last strike he has proved to be very obnoxious. Well, I have the feeling that he won't live to see what ever good the New Year brings."  
  
"The Mad Hatter Tea house massacre, that's what you are talking about, aren't you?" Dracula asked.  
  
Lace agreed: "It already made history, I see."  
  
"How can you be so calm about it?" the Count wondered.  
  
For all he knew, if somebody had dared to interfere with him like that, he would not have spent one calm minute until he had struck the vermin down. But the mage even seemed to think that having a rival was sort of entertaining.  
  
"I like the comfort, but after over 50 years, being in total control was kind of boring. I had not much to do, so the distraction was quite welcome, but this Masked One has not style, talent or anything that would make it worthwhile to call him an enemy."  
  
"So you are going to kill him because he is too weak?" Dracula was confused.  
  
"It's not so strange at all. I mean: what would you crush sooner - an interesting opponent playing difficult mind games or an annoying insect buzzing around you?"  
  
"Well, I see what you mean."  
  
Vladislaus could understand the mage's motives, but he could not bring himself to accept any kind of rivalry. It would be funny, to see someone try and fail, but considering what had happened the last time he had let a supposedly weaker opponent live, he had decided not make that mistake again. Maybe in case he was back in all his gory glory. Dracula went all nostalgic thinking how good it was to be in control.  
  
A knock on the door interrupted the Count's train of thoughts.  
  
"Come in," said Lace and a man that was dressed like a classic English butler came in with some device on a silver tray.  
  
"Excuse me, Count, but this must be an important call."  
  
Then the mage held the device in front of his ear and mouth. "What?" he said after a while and stood up. His face went bare of any emotion. His voice was dangerously calm as he spoke again. "Listen, I don't care, you are the one responsible, if this shipment arrives too late, there is no room in heaven, hell or earth you can hide in. Did I make myself clear? - Good."  
  
Lace handed the thing back to the butler who left with a stiff bow.  
  
"Problems?" the vampire asked.  
  
"The usual incompetence, I have no tolerance for it," the mage's voice was still frightening emotionless. He bent down to take his glass and after he had swallowed the rest of its content, he continued: "If you are willing to give me a blood sample I could try and find out what it is that is interfering with your powers."  
  
"A blood sample?" Dracula said, suspiciously. The vampire did not think it to be a good idea to hand his blood to a mage.  
  
"You can wait until either you trust me or your condition becomes worse," said Lace and added: "Or never - as you wish."  
  
Vladislaus tried to estimate how much of a risk it would be. He began to feel annoyed realizing how much time he already had spent worrying and dreading what was to come. It was silly to believe somebody could control him and if the mage wanted to destroy him, he would already have done so. In this state the Count doubted that he could fight him off. Earlier he had seen things different, but now after seeing him, he was quite sure of it.  
  
"Oh why not, it seems that this city has blood enough to cover up a little sample," Dracula answered.  
  
"If you don't mind, we could go to my laboratory right away and Parker can show you to your quarters afterwards."  
  
"Just lead the way!" The vampire rose from the sofa. The last drops of blood found the way into his mouth and then he placed the glass on the table.  
  
The mage headed back to the elevator and again the Count had to think about the paintings. He was not sure whether he liked them, but this strange feeling seemed to be related to them. He really wondered what kind of a person the painter had been or more likely from what time? How this had come to pass. Had the man seen his own private hell? Or had it been a woman? But most of all Dracula wondered, that those paintings caught his attention again, despite his having other worries.  
  
His obviously very observant host stopped and turned his gaze at the painting the Count had looked upon for a short while. "What do you think?"  
  
Dracula was not sure what he should reply. "Hard to say, I've never seen anything like it. It's somewhat alien and I can't help it, but they are fascinating. "  
  
"One of the few pictures I saved because I personally like them," Lace said. "They are from an artist named H.R. Giger. Unfortunately he died a long time ago, but considering that he was already old when I was born it could hardly be helped. He died four days after my fourth birthday. Naturally it was much later that I grew fond of his work or even knew about it."  
  
"It must have been a fascinating world in which you were born," Dracula replied. "By the way may I ask how old you are?"  
  
"Don't tell anyone, but I am coming quite close to eighty," the mage confessed. "And if you want to study the paintings, feel free to come here anytime you like all corridors on this level have them."  
  
Vladislaus was surprised that he was given access so freely, but he was also sure that he would be notified of more restrictions soon. The vampire believed that he might even start to like the mage, but he could not tolerate being told what to do, so eventually he would have to kill him when the time was right. For now he just followed his host to the elevator. 


	11. The philosophy of blood

Chapter 11: The philosophy of blood  
  
The two men stood side by side in the small cabin. The vampire knew that his statue-like calmness was only an act. He was not as nervous as before, but he was only beginning to learn to deal with his fear. Something he had not felt in all those years. Vladislaus had no doubt that his host was every bit as calm as he appeared to be. Almost bored, Lace had plugged a small card into an easy to overlook slit in the control panel.  
  
Then after he had pushed a button, the cabin moved and seconds later a door opened. There was a soft glimmer in the air and the mage signalled his guest to wait. After it had disappeared he gestured to Dracula to step out into the hall.  
  
"This is my personal floor. You are only able to reach it with a special key-card. Depending on the occasion I seal it off with magic, too. Magic fields are my specialty. Only recently I put a nice enchantment on my prison-of-no-return tower."  
  
Vladislaus instantly felt a shiver go through him. That pain warping through the buildings glassy surface must have been caused by this late instalment of the mage. 'So much for using it as a hide-out in case something goes wrong,' he thought.  
  
"What was the purpose of putting it there?" Dracula asked aloud.  
  
The mage smiled and answered, while leading the way towards his laboratory: "Some people used to smash in the windows and falling glass on a public street always leaves such a mess. Now that's not possible anymore."  
  
It was obvious that Lace was proud of his achievements, also he tried to sound casual, but alone the fact that he told Dracula so much was very conclusive. The vampire followed his host to a big room. The room was not as high or hold as many big, sacrilegious looking devices like the laboratory he had set up for Dr. Frankenstein, but it had something about it. All those familiar and unfamiliar pieces of equipment had a certain order about how they were placed, but there were so many of them, that the room looked almost untidy.  
  
"Very impressive," the Count admitted.  
  
Lace smiled contently, he knew that his guest was referring to the past centuries equipment he had. Indeed, most of it was more from past ages, but only because magic was not always analysable by the modern way of science. And he explained that to the count.  
  
"When our doctor analysed the victims left behind by you in Misery", the mage went into more detail, "he found a certain cellular damage, but he could not pin-point it."  
  
"But you found something that ... indicates what?" Vladislaus was confused.  
  
"That those people were killed by a vampire - as I said earlier, I was there when the Vatican fell and my primary interest were the archives of the Holy Order. And an alchemist in the seventeenth century discovered that all supernatural things represent a certain spectrum, and provided the means to analyse it."  
  
"How is that going to help me with my problem?" Dracula knew that Lace hadn't brought up the subject for nothing.  
  
"What-ever is feeding upon your powers, will have a different spectrum from yours and then all I have to find out will be the exact opposite force…", Lace said and his guest finished the thought.  
  
"… and all I need to do is feed on something that has this anti-energy and it will be gone from me!" The Count smiled at that thought.  
  
"Sounds quite easy, considering the amount of creatures in this city, but keep in mind, that they might be not so willing to make a donation or that it is something not resident in this city - like something angelic."  
  
"Don't tell me they roam about as well", replied Vladislaus, annoyed.  
  
Lace nodded: "Oh, not in as great numbers as their counterparts, but I already crossed path with one of them and not a fallen one…"  
  
It was almost like there was nothing that Lace had not met or knew about. Dracula began to feel like a child that just barely had begun to see the world. And the mage was still so young compared to him. "What happened?"  
  
The mage began looking for something, as his eyes were searching about various little drawer cabinets. "Not much, it came down to protect a certain relict and neither I nor my master was able to acquire it. Not that I minded terribly, I forged a similar orb with help from below and, most important, I got rid of my teacher."  
  
"You are more the self-educational type," the vampire commented with a dry voice.  
  
"I learned to discover things for myself, but I did not mind having a teacher, I just would have liked to settle for one that does not hold back - a good teacher should always be interested in his pupil becoming better than he himself," replied Lace. "At least that's what I am trying to do."  
  
"You teach the art of magic?" Dracula felt that this was kind of reckless. "Aren't you afraid that your pupils turn against you?"  
  
"I select them very carefully," the mage replied and produced a little crystal in a very odd shape from one of the drawers. Then he turned to another and took out a syringe. "Well, are you ready?"  
  
"As ready as I ever will be," came the sardonic reply.  
  
The Count removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeve, when he suddenly noticed some dark texture crawling over the side of his arm. He moved his fingers and thus the sinews in his arms, but it had not been a shadow as he saw them now. Vladislaus suppressed the need to rip off his shirt and look for it. He wondered if this was connected with Werewolf -Van Helsing biting him.  
  
Of course Lace had noticed, but he did not say anything about it. The mage just stung his guest with the needle and drew a fair amount of blood from the un-dead's underarm. It had been a while since Dracula had really caught sight of his own blood, but he began to understand what his host had meant, as he saw that the blood was not pure read anymore, but a murky brown.  
  
"I'm sure that's not what it meant to look like," the vampire said.  
  
"No, definitely not, all recordings say that vampire's have an overly red-coloured blood. - Well I'd like to get to work on this - the spectral analysis will take a while and I'm sure you like to get settled in before the sun comes up."  
  
Dracula had hoped to observe what the magician was doing with his blood, but he was right. The sun would come up soon and this room was not shielded from it. Besides, the vampire admitted that if Lace wanted to, he could put a spell on him without him noticing. Vladislaus was not familiar enough with this kind of magic. After all he had used to have his own.  
  
Lace removed the glass with the blood from the rest of the syringe and put a black, soft lid on the one end. After that he walked to the next wall and grabbed a device from it. The vampire figured that this must be some improved way to talk over a great distance not unlike cabling messages.  
  
The mage called a person named Parker. Dracula wondered who that might be. The mage had more personnel than he had created vampires throughout the centuries. Lace began to give a few drops of the Count's blood into a dark bowl which was made of bone despite its being almost black.  
  
Carefully, the crystal was placed on top of this and it seemed that the inside of the bowl was carved especially for this weird piece of jewellery. Noticing the vampire's curiosity Lace placed it at the edge of the table. Looking inside Vladislaus saw that his blood was in the centre of the crystal and that the various longer spikes that came out of it were pointing upwards. The shorter spikes stuck inside the bowel.  
  
Meanwhile the mage began to construct something with glass and thin metal bars. It looked a bit like a chemistry set. Lace assured him that it would take a while but that he was confident to find out more till the end of this day. He was only interrupted as had to lower the energy shield at the entrance, which Dracula had not even noticed to be build up after they had stepped inside.  
  
"So, you are our new guest!" said the black man as he saw the vampire, but not before he had bowed slightly to great his master.  
  
"You are Parker, my guide," Vladislaus replied.  
  
It was obvious that this employee of Lace was much higher in rank than the others he had met so far. Everyone had been trying to be especially polite. The huge man in front of him was openly showing his disapproval. In a way it was refreshing, he seemed to be very strong and Dracula wondered if he was something demonic.  
  
"I'm responsible for the Security, so you better pay attention to the guidelines around here," Parker warned him.  
  
"Parker has a strange concern for the well-being of others, if he could he would protect everyone from the exploitation of others", said Lace.  
  
The vampire looked suspiciously at the man in front of him. This was getting stranger and stranger, but in a way very amusing.  
  
"I guess we see each other at the ball," Dracula turned to Lace.  
  
"I definitely hope so. Have a good day's rest", the mage replied and nodded afterwards into Parker's direction.  
  
Then the black man asked Dracula to follow him. They were heading back to the elevator, and Parker was fetching a small card from one of the many pockets in his dark blue uniform. "This will be your card, your rooms are located on the forty-fifth floor. The card also allows you access to the library and a few other restricted areas. You will find more information in your quarters. I have ordered Virginia to meet us there. She will be showing you the details."  
  
With that, the card was handed to the un-dead and the expecting look on his face told the Count that he wanted to see if he was able to work the elevator. Which was of course no problem and as the cabin went up, Dracula asked: "If you are so keen on protecting others, why do you work for Lace?"  
  
"Only heroes think they have to save everyone - I try to be more rational. Lace knows what he does, and I will always follow his command."  
  
"So he is your master and you don't have any choice but to obey him?" Vladislaus inquired further. He thought that it was always good to know were people stood, especially if they did not like him very well.  
  
"I choose to swear loyalty to Death," Parker said, "because this was the only honourable solution, the only way to come even close to pay my debt."  
  
The doors opened, but the un-dead was not going to let this go. "What debt?"  
  
"For the control he gave me, for the life I would not have without him," came the sincere reply. Parker was not even looking at him, he just paced down the corridor which had doors to the right and left.  
  
"He is your father?" came the surprised answer.  
  
"No." The black man turned and stopped. "He gave me control over my curse. Without that I would be no more but a mindless blood-lusting beast."  
  
Dracula was not impressed about the tall man towering over him. "Sounds like an interesting curse!" he said enjoying the mocking.  
  
Parker turned around and strode on. "There is nothing interesting about being a werewolf."  
  
The Count, who had just continued his way as well, stopped abruptly for a second. He told himself that he should have known that all those good things bestowed upon him must have a counterweight to it. It was really all he needed that Lace most loyal and very powerful servant was the only thing that could destroy him. His eyes stared at the broad back in front of him. Eventually, he caught up as they arrived in front of a large door.  
  
"Those are your quarters." The werewolf pushed the doors open.  
  
His host was generous indeed, his resting arrangements were even over his residing standard in Bukarest. Right opposite the doors, almost 20 feet away, was a marvellous group of soft couches around a round table, crowned by a real fireplace at the wall. Right in the middle of the room in front of it stood a white marble statue in form of a tremendously beautiful woman.  
  
At least that was his first impression, because suddenly the statue was turning towards them. The eyes became alive and glowed in an unholy red, while the white dress turned into a velvet black dress and the hair became black and radiant. Only the skin remained as white as before. "I'm Virginia."  
  
Vladislaus was not sure what to say or do. Part of him wanted to laugh, the other to scream in frustration. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, but even in this shape she was no more alive than the statue a few seconds before. Virginia was cold and not one part in him even longed to touch her, but the view was still incredibly appetizing. The woman was like a piece of art that inspired, but could never fulfil any of the promises it seemed to make.  
  
Thirty stories below, two not nearly as beautiful, but very alive girls were sitting at their supper table. For a dancer the nocturnal life-style was simply more comfortable, but still as the telephone rang both of the young women looked up in surprise.  
  
"Please, it is five a.m.", the brunette girl replied.  
  
Her fork went back into her salad as if she wanted to prove that she did not really care. Her friend bent back and reached for it, she seemed more awake and smiled until she heard who was at the end of the line.  
  
"Of course," she replied after a while. "Okay."  
  
Her friend waited till she had hung up: "Who was it? I hope not Peter this jerk, 'cause I told him that it was over days ago."  
  
"No, Sonja, that was Lace."  
  
"Oh, no, he can't be calling you this late," she said.  
  
"Actually he called both of us", Alicia replied.  
  
"Me, too?" Sonja could not have sounded more disapproving. "What does he want with me?"  
  
"There is only one way to find out. Come up, or do you wan to finish that first?"  
  
"No appetite!" She wiped her lips with the napkin and got up. "That guy gives me the creeps out and he knows it."  
  
"He has that affect on almost anyone," Alicia said, "but don't worry, he won't harm you. Not you."  
  
They left their quarters and walked down the corridor towards the elevator. At the same moment, the doors opened and Verbatina stepped out.  
  
"Out that late?" the black-haired girl said.  
  
"I might have worse working times, but at least I have honest work," she barked back and walked through between them, hitting Sonja's arm with her elbow in the process.  
  
The two dancers stepped inside and while Alicia was directing the cabin to its destination, Sonja said: "You know, she is always awake, I see her so often at all times, it's really creepy. Is she doing overtime or something?"  
  
"Maybe she got two jobs," Alicia replied. Sonja shrugged.  
  
Then the doors opened and the two entered Lace's private sector. "He is in the laboratory. Come on," Alicia said.  
  
The brunette knew of course that her friend was one of the few persons who were in this area more often than usual. Besides Parker she was probably the only one whose key card had access to this floor. Sonja had her suspicions why the mage was spending so much time with Alicia, but then again, she already knew more than she should. And she was smart enough to keep it to herself.  
  
It was not that Sonja did regret all the benefits she received through the liaison between the two of them, but she hated being so close to Lace. Despite the fact that he has always been kind to Alicia and her from the first day they had arrived here she dreaded him. Even more than the lamias or Logan. That day, when she had stood in front of him, she almost passed out. Ever since then she had kept her distance, if it had been possible.  
  
"Sonja," he greeted her first and then, with an even warmer smile he said: "Alicia."  
  
One word that said everything and the fact that he was not behaving like that in public made the brunette feel even more concerned.  
  
"So what do you want from the both of us?"  
  
"Blood," Lace said. "Well, only a little."  
  
Discomforted, the girls looked at the desk, the monstrous equipment at the end was one thing, but the syringes and the small cloth sling right next to the mage were another. "Oh great," Sonja said biting her lower lip.  
  
"Well, you can go first - this way you are over and done with it."  
  
"Yeah, please", Sonja rolled up her sleeve. She hated the fact that there was no way to avoid it. The mage was always getting what he wanted. Being so close, she felt the same distress, but as he touched her wrist it became even worse.  
  
He tied up her circulation with the sling before he stung her with the needle and took the blood out of her arm. It was over much faster than she had expected, and finally Sonja stepped back, pressing the cotton ball over the small bloody dot with her arm. Alicia did not mind that much, she even observed what Lace was doing with interest.  
  
"May we ask what you intend to do with our blood?" the brunette dancer wanted to know.  
  
"Empirical research," the mage said and smiled at his current patient.  
  
"This has not per chance to do with the Count's arrival?" Alicia asked.  
  
"Yes, it has, does that worry you?"  
  
"No, not at all," the black haired woman said truthfully.  
  
Sonja could not understand why Alicia trusted the mage so much. Even if he had owed her mother a favour, she had traded it in a long time ago.  
  
The mage looked at her, after pulling out the needle: "Good - because I have the feeling the Count will choose you as his partner tomorrow."  
  
Alicia shrugged her shoulders. "He would not be the first guy I dance with."  
  
Her fellow dancer felt a bit cast aside. Something was going on here and she wanted to know, despite the fact that knowledge in this city was a dangerous thing, but Alicia was her best friend. Even that did not help her understand why it seemed so important to Lace to know how Alicia felt about the stranger.  
  
"Thank you, Ladies, for your co-operation - I'm sure you want to go and rest, since tomorrow will be a demanding day," the mage said and showed them out of the room.  
  
Dracula turned his gaze off the strange creature and as his eyes met with the unveiled lower ceiling he saw that the woman had no reflection. "You are a lamia," he said.  
  
He definitely had not expected them to be like this. He was even further stunned as he saw her smile and the cute little fangs that appeared between her dark red lips. "I am, and you are the famous Count Dracula."  
  
"Pardon me, I was a bit surprised," Vladislaus said.  
  
"Since you two get along fine, I wish you a good day."  
  
With those words Parker left the room.  
  
"He is always so tense," Virginia said. "Well, Count, since the sun isn't going to wait, I suggest I start with showing you how the security around works and then if there is time, we can get to the more pleasurable gimmicks around here."  
  
"I hope those include how Dinner is delivered around here."  
  
"Oh don't worry, despite these annoying rules, I never felt deprived of a fair amount of warm blood", she licked her lips hungrily. "Let's talk about food later."  
  
She stepped up to him, and it was then that he realised that it was a small - at least compared to the rest of the room - entrance chamber he was standing in. Looking up he saw that there was a heavy grid made of iron that could be let down to close the room off. Curtains on the living room's side for more privacy were also present. Another set was present at each wall, concealing doors.  
  
"Those are passage ways for the servants," she pointed at the doors.  
  
Gliding past him, Virginia touched one of the two paintings in this entrance chamber and flipped it of the wall, revealing a strange set of controls. "The other painting over there hides the security brakes for the electricity. But we have a crew to maintain everything. But let's go step by step, Parker said you never had the chance to enjoy modern technology."  
  
And with that she began showing him how the security system worked, how he could easily access other leisure activities, like the bar or the public library by using the phones and how he could get into the restricted areas, Lace had made available to him. There was so much interesting and promising thing to discover and the vampire grew more and more excited.  
  
Nonetheless Virginia was hard to be with, but she noticed that Dracula he had his problems with her nature. But when she told him that she was not even able to experiencing any sexual pleasures anymore and only a beating heart could get her into ecstasy, he decided not to hold the lust she inspired in him against her.  
  
Obviously she hunted mainly in Merry Ville, but only males, because women automatically turned into lamias herself, unless she mutilated the bodies. Obeying Lace's rules seemed to be a much harder task on her behalf. Nonetheless she was quite satisfied with the arrangement. Finally she showed him through the whole apartment. Besides the seating group, which was made of real leather and had a comforting light grey tone, there was a huge bar in the living room and a gigantic screen.  
  
So Virginia had to give him an introduction on the wonders of television, before she led him to the next room which contained a magnificent desk and loads of book shelves throughout the walls. All made from mahogany, a room that waited to be filled with work and books. Opposite the desk was a broad roman bench that looked like a comfortable place for reading.  
  
Behind the next door was a simple room. One side was a prison cell, the other side had some wooden chests and wardrobes which, as Virginia was eager to show, contained additional accessories. A courtesy the vampire had not expected. There was even an axe. Here he could keep his prey for a while and in case one died unexpected he could take care of any unwanted fledglings. It would certainly be nice to have a constant supply of blood, so he could take a snack whenever he wanted.  
  
Returning to the main room, she guided him to the other side. Here was a room with a piano and enough room to have a small dance party, a second door lead to a small bathroom with a toilet and a basin. The third way out of here were the stairs that lead up to a catwalk around the room. Three additional doors up there gave way toward the rest of this illustrious flat.  
  
The most uninteresting room was the small room that came first. Virginia explained that from here the built-in sound system to the grand room could be operated. The next room was also quite useless since it featured a kitchen. The last one led to a room slightly bigger than the library, with a conference table and chairs to it. "Don't look so disappointed, in time you find things to decorate it with."  
  
Finally they reached the bedroom. A marvellously inviting square bed dominated the room. A small wall made of black marble went down in steps along each side. Besides the walk-in-closet only a set of two commodes made of teak furnished the room. The last door led to a grand bath room. It was unlike everything he had ever seen. Especially the bath-tub, which was round and in the middle of the room. Tiny holes were in its bottom.  
  
"That is not bad," he said and Virginia laughed softly. And he had to admit that this was indeed more than acceptable.  
  
"Well, there is one thing I think I should show you."  
  
Virginia stepped back into the bedroom and approached the closet doors. Although the whole front was made of seven identical doors, Vladislaus was sure that he could figure out the right one by himself. "This one here", she said, pulling the last one open, "leads down to the library."  
  
There was indeed a small stairway behind, and some tiny buttons that operated the secret doors.  
  
"Now I feel right at home," Dracula told her, smiling.  
  
"Glad to hear that, if you don't have anymore questions, the sun is already up and it's late," the lamia said, still smiling.  
  
"Not for now, but I think I will have quite a few during the next days." With that he took her hand and kissed it softly.  
  
Her fingers were indeed ice-cold and Dracula almost burned his lips. Virginia nodded gracefully and left. Following her instructions, he locked his quarters shut and dimmed all the lights, before dropping onto the comfortable bed. He looked left and right. Here there would have been enough space for seven brides. Although he had to admit that this might have proved to be a bit exhausting. This time he slipped in his resting phase with ease. 


	12. Dance with the vampire

Thx to my beta-reader Margit who despite having better things to continued to correct my awful grammar. 

Chapter 12: Dance with the vampire

The Count woke from his sleep early that evening. A strange sound was echoing through his apartment. But since he did not know the feeling of being dazed after waking up he figured out pretty soon that the sound obviously originated from a door bell. Three rings later Dracula was down and unlocked the security so he could open the door.

"Good evening," said Virginia.

Dazzled by the very charming dress she wore he stepped back and let her in. The lamia was accompanied by two other servants who as she put it, would execute any tasks he gave them, that was if he wanted them. The last person to follow her steps was a familiar face. It was the old man who had sold him his new suit and the leather coat.

The man greeted him also and then said: "Lace asked me to pick some things for you to choose that are adequate for the ball and for you, since I am the one to have an idea about your size."

A look at his new servants revealed that they were carrying not only his old clothes, but also a collection of other clothing. When he looked at them they bowed nicely. Vladislaus wondered if Lace had opened a school for servants. Everything would have been perfect if someone had brought him a little bit to bite as well.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Count?" the beautiful creature asked him.

"You still haven't explained me how to get dinner, around here," he told her.

Dracula saw the old man frown, but Virigina smiled broadly. "I'm sorry, and there is not much time to hunt, is there?" Thinking a moment she said: "Maybe we let Nigel set up everything while we pay a quick visit to my rooms and get you a little appetizer before the ball."

"And afterwards?" The vampire inquired.

"You'll see," she replied mysteriously.

Vladislaus nodded towards the old man and followed the female bloodsucker out of the room. She guided him to the elevator, and they went two levels up to where Kara, the other lamia, and she had their quarters.

"Are there only two of your kind in town?" Vladislav asked.

Virginia nodded. "Yes, only the two of us. But Kara is not very happy about … what I made of her. I'm surprised she lasted that long."

"Craving to be the only one?" he said.

"On the contrary, but things have not worked out the way I hoped. I changed her because I loved her, she was so lovely and had the most beautiful voice I ever heard in the past five-hundred years. But the change is a very traumatic one. She hates me know, she is hardly able to deal with the situation and that is not what I had in mind when I did it. I sometimes have the feeling she just stays alive so she can remind me of my mistake."

"That's a problem I don't have. My creations usually worship me and even my brides who have a free will did so", Vladislaus revealed to her.

"That's good for you, I hope you never find yourself in my situation," Virginia said sadly, but without any bitter feelings.

The Count nodded. "I won't. I don't feel love anymore. I remember it vaguely, but nothing more."

"Maybe that is better. Some might say a life without love is not worth living, but what do they know?" the lamia pondered and finally stopped at one heavy door and open it up.

There was a larger entrance hall than in his chambers, and two large door wings blocked the sight to the room behind. "It's not that welcoming, but I seldom have guests." With that she pushed both wings open and revealed a large hall like room. It went from one side of the building to the other and a front of windows let the moonlight shine in. Along the window and inner wall side, a row of white statues showing adorable females was creating an almost creepy atmosphere.

"All those statues ... If you had not told me that there are only two of you …" the Count said.  
"Actually one of the statues used to be one of us. My mistress. You see, we can stand sunlight for a while, but if we are exposed to it for too long we really turn to stone forever," Virginia said. "The hunters took a great delight in destroying all kinds of statues, taking this as an excuse. They even shattered the "Venus of Milo" with a sledgehammer."

With those words she led him to the left and then Vladislaus saw that well hidden doors were occasionally located between the statues.

"It seems to me that the enlightened times of the Holy Order have passed very quickly," the Count told her before looking inside the chamber she had led him to.

The room was well heated. Pulling the curtains aside, he realised that three bunk beds were along-side each of the walls except where the door was. And there were four humans in here. Dracula went for the strongest source and saw a young man that was bound with scarves to the corners of each bedpost.

"Good choice," she commented, holding the curtains for him.

With a lusting smile he turned down to the young man. The victim was wide awake, he did not look that attractive but he was strong and had a gorgeous neck. Vladislaus grabbed the full brown hair and pulled the head aside. A moment he stared at the magnificent play of his veins pumping blood in panic before he bent down and bit into his flesh.

The blood was warm and tasty, much more than any of those humans he had tasted in the past years. The Count realised that this was most probably just due to the fact that he felt he had time to enjoy his meal thoroughly. Instead of sucking in a constant rhythm he paused to let the blood sink into his tongue, then licking over the wound and then biting the man anew.

It was only a short moment later that he stopped and rose but to him it seemed a pleasurable eternity. Virginia, who had watched him, was obviously content that he had enjoyed it so intensively.

"We ought to head back, there is not much time left before the ball begins," she finally broke the mood.

"And I do not want to miss my opening dance," Dracula replied thinking of the dancers. "I'm sure you want to use the time before the ball for yourself."

Virginia smiled and they said goodbye till later.

Back in his quarters the Count was confronted with many different attires to choose from. There was stylish something similar to his suit, but Nigel, the shop-owner called it a tuxedo. Besides, the bow-tie reminded him of this girl, whatever her name was, who had had to help him with it. "Not my taste, besides I think we had a problem, unless your niece is around."

"Well that would not be a problem," Nigel said, "she is helping getting the dancers dressed. But since you anyway do not like it..."

It was not an easy choice, there were ensembles that resembled his style from the 19th century, but also modern clothing and a few combinations that had elements of all of them. What he liked most was one particular outfit, with hip tight and otherwise more loose trouser in a deep black and a black silk shirt, but Nigel was politely pointing out that this was to ordinary for the ball compared to the other outfits.

His natural wish being to stand out not only by good looks, but also by means of exquisite clothing, he chose a combination that was a little bit old fashioned, but alone the fine silver embroidery on the light-grey fabric showed status. It gave him the appearance of the knight in a shining armour who was attending his own wedding ball. Dracula liked the irony of this - after all "Prince of Darkness" was one of the titles he had collected in the past centuries, just like "Son of the Devil" or "King of the Undead".

The time spent with choosing and dressing went swiftly by and just as the servants were shining his boots for the event, there was again this strange noise that announced visitors. This time it was Lace himself who appeared in the doorway. Nigel bowed and closed the door behind him.

"Good evening, dear Count, I trust you rested well?"

"Very comfortably indeed," Dracula admitted.

"I'm surprised you actually chose that outfit," said the mage who was dressed solemnly in white.

"As long it becomes not customary for our kind to dress in light or cheerful colours, I don't mind," the vampire replied.

Lace smiled. "It would certainly throw the crusaders off balance, if we started dressing in such manner."

Both laughed at the idea but Dracula also found himself wondering whether there was some truth behind it. From what he had seen of the Crusaders, they were a rather black and white seeing bunch. They were the kind to burn a woman simply because she had red hair and thinking about it, a lot of time had passed since he had seen a natural redhead. Although it might just have been the dirt that was persistent in the hair of most humans outside this City.

"I see you are ready," Lace said as the two servants were finished with the boots. "I came to pick you up for the ball and to tell you what I discovered so far …"

The mage indicated to the others to leave and then both sat down in the comfortable couch set. "So?" The Count asked.

"Luckily, due to the huge difference between the alien matter and your blood, I could identify it. It seems that either your spectrum is generally a little bit altered due to your being the first and most powerful vampire, or that the infection has already tainted it, but it might still be fully reversible … However I haven't yet located the exact anti-spectrum to get rid of it."

Dracula would have been surprised indeed if he already had had, but nonetheless the Count had hoped for the impossible. "So there is no telling when I might get - better?"

"I would not say that," the mage corrected, confidently. "If you allow, I will make some arrangements for you here in your quarters that will somewhat help you."

The vampire looked at his host: "I can hardly deny an offer like this."

"Very well, then. I hope that despite the sub optimal expectations, you can enjoy the ball."

"I can't wait to choose my partner for the first dance," Vladislaus replied.

"What are we waiting for?" Lace said and got up.

Both men went towards the elevator and a short time afterwards they arrived several floors upstairs in a huge room, with dozen of pillars. Looking left and right of the elevator the Count realised that this room was encompassing two floors and the entire floor space of the building. Directly over them a balcony surrounded the walls of the elevator which was obviously only reachable through it.

One half of the great hall was occupied by a buffet and chairs, the other half had chairs only at the outer wall and half circles facing each other that were separated from the main room by curtains. Everybody looked at Lace who was leading him to one of the curtains, and the vampire took some time to study them carefully. Most of the faces were new, but he saw Virginia, as well as another one of her kind, who had to be Kara, Parker and Verbatina, who was standing far from the others with the servants.

When they were reaching the curtains, they opened and revealed five chairs on a slightly higher levelled floor overlooking the entire dance-floor. One of them was occupied by the Lady Rain and the other one by her side by a odd looking male in a dark grey suit. The woman still had this look of burning passion in her eyes and she winked at him. The other person just had a cold stare. Whatever he was, he was not human and not un-dead.

Lace was leading the Count up the three steps and took some long, cylindrical device from the chair in the middle. Holding it close to his mouth he said with his voice suddenly coming from all sides of the room: "My dear guests, I am glad that again, so many of you could afford the time to attend my little Halloween party this year."

Everybody chuckled at the word little.

"Especially since we have a very special surprise guest." The mage looked at Dracula. "Nobody else, but the famous Count Dracula himself, has decided to honour our city with his visit."

Most residents of the tower remained rather calm, simply because news travelled fast within the building, and used the chance to get a good glance at the new guest. However, the local high society, mostly consisting of humans with no magical connections at all, were shocked and it showed. Lace might have as well announced their death sentence, but after a few seconds they all clapped nonetheless and left Dracula with a very pleasant feeling

Amused, the mage continued: "He shall stay as my guest as long as he likes and he will be my guest of honour for this evening as well. But before he chooses a partner for the opening dance, I like to welcome Rainer, the emissary from Rachel, who has so kindly agreed in helping to protect the city from its most approachable side."

Wondering who this Rachel person might be and whether she was as undesirable as Lady Rain or the lamias, he took a closer look at Rainer. He was a tall man with broad shoulders, a very hard-lined almost quadratic face, and the most unusual eyes he had ever seen. It was like they fractured the light and little tiny dots of light were giving the impression that he was indeed having several pupils in one eye.

At the far end of the room the curtain was also drawn aside and revealed the many dancers owned by Lace. Pair by pair they stepped forward. Two women had not partner and came at the rear. The men wore simple, white and elegant suits while their female counterparts wore either a black, dark-blue or green-dress in a similar cut with slight alterations. The Count felt delighted by so much beauty in one place. They were all adorable and each dancer was different. Seeing those young and healthy people was appetizing, but Dracula tried to hold his hunger at bay. It was anyway more a matter of appetite and the growing need for some sexual interaction.

The female dancers formed two long rows and Lace waved his arm in their direction: "Please feel free to choose your dance partner."

Smiling, the Count stepped down and walked between the rows. Some were even more prettier than the three he had already seen and he was considering to rethink and take one of those beauties that were even flirting back as his gaze fell upon them. Most eyes were turned to him but somewhere near the end, two girls kept talking softly to each other. It were the two dancers from the casino. The short one with the black hair briefly stared at him before turning back to the brunette.

He moved to the end and then stepped back holding his hand out to the petite dancer. The young woman took it but there was no sign of excitement or fear in her. Dracula figured it must be some kind of game she was playing and regretted not to be able to read her mind. Or that of her friend who looked rather relieved for not being chosen herself. Then again, her half-closed eyes and her lowered head gave her a very intriguing look.

'Maybe later,' he thought.

Joining in pairs, the dancers cleared the floored and Lace gave a sign to the orchestra to begin to play as Dracula took her hand into his and led her out to the dance floor. Her dark eyes stared at him coolly, she was obviously not intimidated by his name or his being more than a head taller. He felt her heart beating as he pressed her closer to himself. As the first tones of the waltz were heard he began to lead her over the dance floor.

The girl was not only gracious when dancing alone, she followed his lead without any troubles and her steps were as swift as his own.

"You do not seem to be too happy about my choice," Vladislaus nonetheless said, after a minute.

"That's because I spent to many years dancing already," she replied "It's my profession and I'm not enjoying it that much anymore."

"Do you plan to give it up?" the vampire asked, hoping that she might say yes and thus loose her status as a dancer.

"Oh, I will, definitely!"

"Too bad, your performance was quite intriguing," Dracula told her lowering his voice as more and more guest were joining in the dance.

"Well, you do not become a dancer by giving a sloppy performance," she said. "Or stay one, at that."

Dracula had never met a woman that was so inapproachable through compliments. She acted more like he had insulted her. Worst of all was that she was so cold and still did not show the slightest sign of being attracted to him. He needed to bring her out of her shell, somehow. Maybe if she was a little bit insecure on Lace's protection it would bring out a emotional response.

"Yesterday I had the feeling that Lace knew exactly that I would be choosing you," Vladislaus told her in a confidential tone.

"I guess he assumed that because he knew that you only saw my performance from the beginning to the end," the girl said and a soft, amused smile appeared on her face. It reminded him so much of Verona.

'That self-control, the need for teasing - if I only was able to direct it in the right way, she be the perfect choice for my new lead bride.'

Dracula watched her closely, before asking: "And how comes he knew about this?"

"Because I called him, told him who you were and that you had been watching me while I was dancing."

"You told him who I was? How did you know?" he wondered.

"You might not remember our first encounter, but I do," the girl retorted, sharply.

"Seems to have been a most tragic day - care to tell me what I did and when?" Vladislaus asked her.

He was but a little bit bewildered by her revelation. The vampire had been sure that he had not revealed his name to anyone in the past eight years and even if, he would have killed the person.

"It was about eight years ago. I was waiting for my mother's return in a small coastal village. She was late and I was outside looking for her. The night came and you with it, ravaging the village. I guess you did not see me, because it was cold outside so my body temperature was a bit lower and I had hid myself in the small space between the firewood and the archway were it was stacked. You came to kill the priest of the church and he asked you who you were."

"I remember now," Vladislaus said bitterly. It had been the day when the Crusaders had appeared and had started to shoot at him, forcing him too flee. So after all there was a witness who had seen the Great Dracula run away.

"Was this your first encounter with fire-weapons?" She said as if reading his mind.

"It was - I guess you figure I killed your mother," he said, being convinced there could be no other reason for her behaviour towards him.

But she shook her head. "No, the very Crusaders saving my life had done that. While they were escorting the survivors to the nearest village, they bragged about it." She took a deep breath. "In great detail."

"What did you do?" sensing so much hate in the girl, he guessed that she must have taken revenge.

"Nothing, I had no chance. Only a fool goes unprepared, weak and unarmed against those bastards. I memorised their faces and one day I'll find them and then I make them pay."

Obviously she took his retreat as a smart move, which put the Count at ease. "I'd love to help you in that matter."

"Thank you, but I'm sure your price comes a little bit too high," the young woman told him.

"Oh I would not asked for any payment, in fact there would be few things I could add to my offer," he said as charmingly as he could.

"No chance, I already got the best offer imaginable. Wait till midnight and you see."

While she had spoken, the last tunes of the waltz had been fading only to be followed by a more lively variant. Another pair swept in closely and then he saw that it was Lace with a beautiful black woman in his arms who said mocking to them. "Alicia always gets the best deals around here."

Her longing eyes went up to the Count and as Dracula saw the expression on Alicia's face, he asked the black woman whether she might grant him a dance.

"By all means, don't let me stand in the way," Lace replied, and in a matter of seconds both women had changed their partners.

"I should have chosen you," Vladislav told her. He intended to flatter her to get more information out of her, although he had too say that it was fair deal, with her being as beautiful as any mortal woman could be. There was a radiant passion about her that made it even more enjoyable to swirl her over the dance-floor.

"Then why didn't you?" she replied. "Don't tell me, she always gets the best guys to fall for her."

"I'm not falling for her, just trying to make her fall for me ..." he answered her a bit irritated. "Anyway, what's your name?"

She laughed in a sweet manner. "Sorry, I guess we forget to introduce ourselves since everybody here knows. I'm Madira."

"Beautiful name. - Still you seem a bit jealous - did she ever snatch someone away from you?" he asked her.

"No, I guess not, at least I can't say that she did. Lace is definitely into her, but if he was bedding her as well, he would say so."

"Still understandable, seeing how easily he handed you over to me," Dracula told his current dance partner.

"You do put too much significance to little gestures," Madira replied. "No, the only thing I feel a bit slighted about, is the fact that she is permanently in his quarters, while I never have been there. He always comes to visit me. But then again, I should not be so upset at all. I mean it's not like any of us is really in love."

People here seemed indeed to have a more natural relation to sexual affairs in general than he was used to. Her frankness took him a bit by surprise but he said nothing. He was more concerned by the fact that Lace seemed to favour Alicia. Part of his mind had already made it a challenge to get her to take the fall, but there was so much beauty around and looking at Madira, he realised that he needed to choose carefully, or else he might end up having twenty brides instead of three which might prove to be a bit exhausting - even for him.


	13. Midnight surprise

Chapter 13: Midnight surprise

Spending two dances with Madira and three with another intoxicating beauty that belonged to the dancers and was called Irene, he was able to find out a lot about Alicia and how things worked in favour for the dancers. Feeling that he needed some more time to observe before engaging in any more dances, he excused himself and strolled about the room.

Some people were more occupied with eating than dancing while others did both. The servants were busy seeing to that everybody had something to drink and eat. They constantly walked by either with an empty or a refilled tray. Everywhere was laughter and chattering. Everybody was a little bit too alive and too happy not to leave him with a sad feeling. Which was upsetting enough for he had already discovered too many formerly known emotions being still present in a very short period of time.

Thus Dracula decided to pay attention to all the dancers and pick favourites, to figure out with whom to dance and what else waited to be discovered. And there was a lot to see, the men and women he had passed earlier while they had been standing in row were busy bringing other guests to on the dance-floor. Even Madira did not exclude herself from that duty. Only Alicia avoided to ask anyone to dance.

Some of the male dancers were even kind enough to endure the Lady Rain who had the annoying ability to lead. But then - this was their duty. One of the few inconveniences that came with their job.

What confused him most was that he could slip easily in most of the dancers minds. Charlotte, Rebecca, Lindsey, Anna and all those other names came easily to him, as well as most of the male ones, he knew what they liked and what they disliked about their current partners. Yet, some were blocking him, and their block felt so absolute that the Count wondered whether he could read them at all, even being healed.

Some of the dancers approached him now and then to ask him whether he would like to have another dance. Irene seemed to have a crush upon him but she expressed it in a flattering and tactful way. Right now he was much more interested in getting a hold of the you woman Alicia had talked to in row. He could see Sonja, as he knew her name from Madira, but her mind was closed to him and she was rather busy dancing with her admirers from the high-society of Lace's little city.

Normally he would not have a problem cutting in but with her already so tense in his presence that would not have provided the best base to get some information out of her. Maybe he should ask Lace about the issue, he had the feeling the mage knew anyway that certain people were able to keep him out, especially with his being one of them. Vladislaus decided to take another look at the other side of the room.

Dracula saw the strange fellow Lace had introduced as Rainer filling his plate at the table with the cold meat. He seemed to be a man of great appetite and had problems using a fork. The other people kept their distance to him and just when he decided to go over and start a conversation, he heard a crystal clear laughter and at the source of it he saw Virginia chatting with Logan, the manager of the Casino. They seemed to get along just fine.

Rainer did not notice much, he was busy trying to eat in a decent way and when the Count addressed him he turned with a mistrustful look on his face.

"It can be boring to be limited to a certain kind of food, especially when so much more is offered," the vampire said.

"I prefer quantity over variety," Rainer replied.

"I like to have plenty of both," Dracula said, dryly.

It was obvious that the man was not suited for or interested in a conversation. The meat disappeared faster into the depth behind Rainer's deformed black teeth than one's eyes could follow. Repulsed, the Count turned away. Still after some steps he turned and took another look. The huge pile on the plate had vanished and the plate was in the process of being refilled. 'What a weird person to invite to a ball,' Dracula thought.

A chill ran over his shoulder suddenly and down his back. It was caused by Virginia who had approached him unnoticed. "You won't get much out of her," she said.

"Her?"

"Yes, the shell might be utterly male but it is nothing more than a facade," she lead him a bit away from the guests who went to the buffet. "He is not so much Rachel's ambassador as an avatar for her. The most elevated of her minions."

"And who or what kind of creature is this Rachel?" Vladislaus wanted to know.

Virginia smiled. "Well put, she is a demon, a huge spider demon to be precise. She lives at the eastern border of the Valley this city is located in. The cliffs are very low , so it would be easy for people to climb out or in. Therefore Lace invited her to spin her web there and keep anyone from passing through."

"A spider demon?" The vampire was slightly impressed by the mage's arsenal of allies. "So the only way out of this place is the pathway I came in?"

"Well, the only way by foot, yes," the lamia confirmed. "There is of course the ocean and the airway. Which kind of makes the Golden City a golden cage."

"And what exactly are these minions?" The Count asked, remembering that she had said "one of".

"They are humans that got somehow transformed by her, she uses them as scouts and to bring prey back to her. But they really do not have much of a mind of their own. Rachel is only concerned with eating - as you can see..." Virginia smiled.

"Reminds me of my former employees. Their table manners were just as charming," Vladislaus said.

"Well, what an unfortunate choice then. I always felt beings of our nature should go for the best, most exquisite and talented option there is." Her gaze drifted across the room.

Following it Dracula saw the other lamia walking out of her corner and past her admirers towards the elevator. Shortly before Kara walked out of sight, she threw one loathing look at her maker and vanished out of sight. There was an awkward silence between the two immortals while the room around them was noisy as before.

"If you would excuse me, I think I need to prepare myself ..." the lamia said finally and went off.

"Prepare?" the vampire wondered.

Was there any special relevance to Kara's leaving the room? He was confused by the sudden withdrawal and the fact that the un-dead beauty was so heavily affected by such a small gesture. But then again, Dracula doubted that even he could have expressed so much loathing with just one look; not even towards Gabriel and he had every reason to loathe his old friend. Still the Count knew that he definitely never had been that upset by a stare and he certainly thought that it was not a good sign for an immortal to be so emotional.

While he was still standing were Virginia had left him, he suddenly heard the most wondrous noise. Then Vladislaus realised that it was a female voice vocalizing softly. The sound came from the balcony and, stepping back, he saw that Kara was standing on the railing and accompanied the song with her voice. The more intensive the pace of the music became, the more powerful and enthralling grew her song, despite not using any words. Many people in the back of the room just stood there and the dance-floor began to grew more lively as the dancers went along with the music.

However, there were some who were unaffected by the beauty of it. Though he was mainly focusing on the spectacle, Dracula noticed the fat woman approaching him. Lady Rain had indeed left the poor male dancers alone that were forced to endure her presence. With an icy stare he turned to her, but she did not noticed at all. Like she did not noticed so many other things.

"Dear Count, what a fabulous moment for the two of us to find our way together ... on the dance-floor," she said, smiling.

"I'm not going to dance with you," replied the vampire brusquely.

"Don't be shy, it's nothing classical but I'm sure you'll muddle through."

Dracula became angry. "I said that I don't want to dance with you. If you don't mind, I just prefer to listen."

That reply displeased her immensely for a few seconds before she recovered and launched another attack.  
"Oh don't be shy, I'm sure you pick up the modern dance pretty quickly."

The Count began to wonder whether Lace would terribly mind if he was to turn around and rip out her throat but just as he was picturing the whole scene in detail, he heard a rather friendly but shy voice. "Maybe you like to give it a try with me?"

The voice belonged to the dancer he had seen first, Alicia's friend Sonja. She seemed a bit nervous and her blood pressure was reddening her cheeks.

"I definitely would like to," he told her and took her hand.

The Lady Rain remained behind, pouting like a fish, while he disappeared on the dance-floor. Yet he was able to hear Sanguina cursing under her breath. "You wriggly little slut, you going to pay for that!"

"It seems you made yourself an enemy," Dracula told her.

Sonja shrugged, "I was never popular with her anyhow."

"Still I owe you a favour," the vampire said, having the reward already in his mind.

"Please, it was nothing, everyone hates her," she replied.

"Aren't you afraid of her?" he wanted to know.

She smiled mysteriously. "I'm one of the untouchables around here. And I don't think she can come up with any more rumours about me, not that I'd care."

"Still you seem pretty nervous," Vladislaus told her.

"Oh," she blushed and looked away. "That has nothing to do with her. And I'd use the word excited."

Dracula found that to be rather sweet and he did not answer her for some time but studied her face intensively while leading her about the place. Since she was a good friend of Alicia's it was supportable for his plans that she was already highly attracted to him. He probably could use this to find out more about his primary target.

"If that is the case I'm surprised that you haven't asked me sooner," the Count said.

"I guess I'm one of those old-fashioned girls who liked to be asked," the brunette replied.

Vladislaus laughed heartily. There was not anything old-fashioned about any of the girls he had met so far, and this revelation seemed so out of place to him.

"I'm glad to hear that, for it seems to me that your friend has exactly the opposite opinion," he said.

"Alicia? Oh well, she is simply not interested in men at all. And not into women either, for that matter."

"Maybe I can change that ...," Vladislaus suggested.

Sonja smiled. "That would be a miracle. Honestly, take it from somebody who has been her room-mate for eight years, not a chance."

"For eight years - so you knew her before she came to Los Angeles?"

"I would not be here without her. I grew up in a cloister and when she came there, we became friends and then we fled and came here," Sonja explained.

"How amusing, fleeing from a cloister," the Count said, twirling her around

"You obviously don't know what it's like outside this city," she replied being back in his grasp.

"Oh I got a few impressions, but in my time a cloister was always a place of refuge," he told her.

"It's a place of imprisonment, brainwashing and ..." Sonja became quite upset.

Dracula raised his finger to her lips. "Sshh."

It worked, Sonja was looking at him and he removed his finger.

"Sorry, I still get to easily upset about that," she apologised.

The vampire was fascinated by the energy she radiated. Not to mention that she seemed to hate the church almost as much as he did. He bent closer and was about to kiss her, as suddenly a loud gong echoed through the room. Startled he stopped and Sonja said: "It's midnight - Lace is going to make his speech."

The gong repeated itself and everyone was gathering on the dance-floor, the music had stopped and Lace positioned himself in front of his chair. With the twelfth and final stroke of the gong, the mage addressed his audience.

"For the past fifteen years, the chair at my right side has been occupied by Dallas, my apprentice. I'm sure he will eventually return at the end of this year having solved the task I send him out upon. But whether that might happen or not, it is also the year to name his successor, who will be taught by me in the dark arts from the coming of the new year on."

"This time I have chosen ..." he paused and made a gesture with his hand that set a magical light around the person of his choice. "... Alicia to become my new apprentice. Her ability to learn combined with an astonishing self-discipline as well as her magical heritage, has made her the most reasonable choice."

Everyone, except the Count and Verbatina, where applauding, even the Lady Rain was clapping like a bird jumping over ice-covered ground, when the young woman stepped forward. Her cheeks were slightly red and she had the loveliest smile on her face. But then again, she had every reason to be happy. Vladislaus never had expected this twist of events and could see now why she had denied his offer for help. Sonja who was still standing at Dracula's side seemed not to be surprised at any rate.

"You knew about this," he said, stepping right behind her.

With goose-bumps covering the side of her neck he was looking at, she replied: "She told me last night. I guess with a career like that lying ahead you do not have the need for intimacy."

After the cheering had died down, Lace addressed his audience again. "This will mean of course that the following dance formation will be the last time Alicia will be performing as a dancer."

An universal "Awww" ran through the room before the mage continued: "Therefore I hope you all are going to especially enjoy this one."

He kissed Alicia's hand and the girl walked down the stairs, the strange light surrounding her slowly fading away. People now cleared the dance-floor where the dancers gathered.

"Sorry, my call, Count, maybe we can have another dance later this night."

Vladislaus did not answer. He walked towards Lace convinced that the mage had anticipated all of this. That he had known that Alicia was as reachable as the sun herself. Or would the mage stay to his word and leave the choice to her, meaning that the Count could try to charm her over? Dracula wondered how trustworthy Sonja's statements were. Was she just saying this to discourage him, did she want her friend to become a powerful mage for her own sake? Not being able to read people's minds was making him quite mistrusting.

"Dear Count, I hope you are having a good time," Lace said, raising a glass of wine, when he approached him.

"I guess so, it's just ..." Vladislaus paused unsure if he should inquire to the mage about this defect. "Ever since this unfortunate incident, I was not able to look directly into a person's mind. But even though I can feel the power returning to me, there are some people who's mind are completely unapproachable."

The mage smiled. "People like Alicia, Sonja, Virginia, the Lady Rain and myself?"

The Count nodded.

"I guess our own pact with the devil has made Sanguina and myself far too powerful to be read easily. Same might go for more powerful demons like Virginia, and as for the girls, witch blood or something similar is generally very defiant towards influences of dark powers," Lace explained. "Is that all that is bothering you?"

"No," Dracula said, beginning to admire the mage's ability to read him. "You knew I had set my eye on Alicia."

"I knew you saw her and I thought it to be possible. Still that is certainly not the reason for my choosing her. I could probably have told you right away that she is sort of unavailable, but then, I did not know for sure that you had her in mind."

"So then, I take it that I am to stay away from her?" the vampire said, angrily.

"Oh - If she should, for some strange reason, want to join you, I'm not stopping her, but ..." Lace said "... if you go against her wishes, be certain that this will be the last mistake you will ever make. Same goes for Sonja and Madira, just to put things straight."

For a moment the Count did not know what to say. Instead, he turned to the floor where the dancers had formed six rows. The women were all standing sorted by the colours of their dresses and then a music he had never heard before began to play. It was not unlike the one from the Lounge, just heavier and darker. Kara was raising her voice once more, and her crystal clear timbre formed a stark contrast to the music.

The vampire felt that the mage paid more attention to him than to the ongoing dance. Dracula considered that he was being childish, after all there were prettier girls down there and it was not as if Lace had forbidden him entirely to make advances towards Alicia or everyone else. He figured the mage probably did not even mind his going after his own current lover. His host was a strange person indeed.

"How many of them do have witch blood in their veins?" he finally asked, his eyes still on the precise demonstration on the dance-floor.

"Five of them, but I think you will find that seven are quite inapproachable," Lace replied as calm as ever.

"What about the other two?"

"I'm not sure, one must have quite a few demons in his family tree and as for Sonja - I have no clue what her blood is about. The spectrum is something I have never seen before," the mage replied.

"Now, what are you two boys talking about," the ever intruding Lady Rain interrupted.

"I think you had too much wine already," Lace said.

"That's not the only thing she had too much of," Dracula told the mage.

"So I am in a good mood, you too are not, ha-ha!"With further evil laughter she disappeared towards the food tables.

"Why do you put up with her?" Vladislaus asked, upset once more.

"I'll tell you soon enough. I doubt that we'll have to endure her for much longer but for the moment I like the diversion she provides."

"Well, I do not."

Lace nodded in comprehension. "I try to keep her away from you."

"You'd better, or I can't guarantee that I won't strangle her," the vampire said.

"Don't underestimate her, Count, she is much more dangerous than she seems," the mage warned him.

Dracula was not convinced but both of them turned their attention back to the dancers. The girls had ripped off the skirt-part from their dresses. Which had actually been made for it and now revealed much shorter skirts. Now they were much more agile as they changed formations, hopping from one hip of their dance partner easily to his shoulders before twirling around him. And all of it was in sync with the other dancers, sometimes just with the dancers of their colour and then again with all of them.

All of them were certainly accomplished acrobats as well as splendid dancers. "I kind of like this new way of dancing," he admitted.

"Very demanding, once this is over we will have more modern music. One has to appease all of their guests. The young people are kind of more interested in their own ways of dancing. I prefer the classical ways," Lace said.

"I'm satisfied with watching - for now," Vladislaus replied. "Still I think I'll try and get some private lessons."

"Speaking about privacy. I was informed shortly before midnight that the arrangements I ordered have been completed. I only ask that my gift is not to see the light of day. But then I am sure, that's an unnecessary direction, given your particular case."

"I'm feeling awfully hungry already. Kind of annoying to be so much dependent on fresh blood. It used to be not more than one human a month," Dracula told him. "Not that I hadn't occasionally more, when being in more crowded places."

The mage smiled but he said nothing more and stuck to watching the rest of the dance. Which was well worth looking at. The Count decided to take a closer look and choose the most suitable, ruthless and beautiful women to be his new brides. With such variety there was no reason to let years pass. Not to say that one bride might prove to be quite boring now that he had had the taste of three.

Despite the hunger and the prospect of some satisfaction with respect to that matter the vampire stayed some time around to watch the kind of dance that started after the dancers had finished their marvellous and inspiring performance. The art of modern dance was a bit too wild for the Count's taste. He doubted that he would make a good figure hopping around like one of his dwergi that had got zapped by lightning.

So finally at one o'clock, Dracula decided to leave. He was thinking about Sonja who had asked him for another dance, after all, but she seemed quite busy and then there would be other nights. For now he was anxious to see if the promised gift from Lace would help his powers on the way just like the mage had promised. He paid his good-byes to his host and ventured towards the elevator where Parker stood with a grim face.

"Aren't you dancing?" the Count asked him.

"Occasionally, but tonight I'm on duty."

Somehow sensing that the security chief was less than honest, he not just walked into the elevator but turned slightly to see where the werewolf was looking. An intrigued smile appeared on the vampire's face as he realised that Parker was observing Alicia quite closely as she was standing between her former colleagues answering questions and accepting well wishes for her future. 


	14. Candlelight Dinner

A/N: Sorry, the ... in this story indicated where I had to censor this story to be absolutely sure this still matches the R Rating. You find the full version on the adult fanfic side. Sorry for the inconvenience! 

Chapter 14: Candlelight dinner

Curious, Dracula returned to his quarters. The Halloween Ball had had some interesting parallels to the ones he had been used to but has as well included a few surprises. The Count was anxious to see what the mage's idea of rendering a gift was. The living room was dark and he decided to secure the flat before searching on. A weak sign of life was somewhat above him, probably dimmed through the ceiling. His gift was most likely laid out for him in his bedroom.

Using the hidden passageway, he entered the room. Numerous candles, surrounding the bed, illuminated the room tolerably. Some burned lower, some higher as they threw a strange shadow-play on the delicate creature that was resting on his bed.

The first thing he noticed, probably because the small walls and the candles on top on them blocked her from his view, were the milk-white feet, beautiful and even in shape. Stepping at the foot of the bed, he saw her simple, white gown which did not reveal too many curves. Her willowy face matched the fragile appearance of her stature; thin lips, a small pointy nose and thin eyebrows, all surrounded by curly, brown hair.

Still despite all this physical weakness there was a strong air of power coming from the sleeping girl. As he came closer Dracula realised that this was not the only strong scent about her. An intense fragrance of fear reeked from her just like somebody had thrown a flacon of bottled angst at her. The Count had never thought that it was possible for a human to bear that much terror. He always killed his victims at the brink of their excitement, so the different spurs of emotions flavoured them delicately.

The vampire sat down beside her and stared at her face. She was pretty in her way, but despite this and the power resting within her Vladislaus felt reluctant to bite her. He feared that her taste might be spoiled, not to say dreadful.

Slowly the girl awoke, disturbed by the vampire's presence. She moved her head to face him, and eyes speaking of untold horrors looked at him. Much to Vladislaus' surprise her expression became clearer and softer once she had had a good look at him. Gathering her thoughts she looked about the room obviously relieved that there was no on else present.

"Who are you?" he asked to gain back her attention.

The tiny person was still afraid and her lower chin was trembling so much that she had difficulties to speak. Her mouth opened but no words escaped her nearly colourless lips.

"What frightens you so much?" Dracula wanted to know.

It would have been ignorant to think that he was the source in any way. Something else had shaken her out of her wits, so much that he had indeed a calming effect on her. The girl slowly rose until she sat on the bed her hands rubbing her shins.

"Lace," she whispered finally.

The Count knew that the mage was dreaded throughout his city, but this seemed to be a bit out of proportion. He wondered whether all those manners, the generosity and his obvious kindness were just deceiving him from the real Lace that lurked beneath them. Maybe the mage was the worst of monster of them all. The thought made him to think about the meaning of the term "monster". What did it really mean? But the girl staring at him brought him quickly back to the situation at hand.

"Are you going to tell me your name?" Dracula asked her.

His gift gave him the strangest expression, but then replied. "Elaine, b ..." she suddenly stopped herself.

As if she had wanted to inquire about something and then had decided against it.

"What?" the Count asked, slightly annoyed that he could not just it pick from her mind.

Hesitating, she finally said: "You are going to kill me, so why would you care about my name?"

Elaine clutched her legs even tighter and pressed her chest against her tights. There was no sign of her being upset about this aspect of her presence here. As if she had already accepted the fact that she was going to die and was inconvenienced by the delay. Dracula's respect for the mage rose immensely. It would probably be easiest to just go over it and suck her dry, to see whether her blood had the promised effect on him.

But Vladislaus had the distinct feeling of disgust as he imagined the taste of her blood. For a vampire, the presence of fear in the blood stream was like the salt in the soup for a mortal. In proportion it enriched the pleasure, but in masses it ruined the meal. The vampire knew he would have to commence damage-control before he could even think about draining a pint out of her.

"I won't kill you - yet," he told her, firmly.

"So Lace wants you to torture me first..." the girl replied, as if it did not concern her.  
He was not sure about the best strategy but aside from telling her the real reason for his delay it seemed best to be honest.

"Although your death was implicit, he gave me no instructions as for whether it should be painful or pleasurable," Vladislaus said.

Entirely unexpected, the young woman burst into a mad, hysterical laughter. Before realising what he was doing, he roared his disapproval at her. Seeing the distorted face, the razor-sharp fangs in them and the glowing eyes, the girl fled backwards. With a thud, she fell from the bed and hit the small wall on the left side. Holding her head where it had collided with the wall she remained frozen with terror.

It all had happened in less than a minute. As Dracula realised how contra productive his outburst had been, he assumed control of his facial features but it took far longer than her hitting the concrete. If he was not doing something quickly this was going to be the most repulsive meal he had ever taken. Maybe it would also be the most nourishing, but what good was it when he could not bring himself to taste her?

"I killed people for fewer offences than laughing at me," the vampire told her firmly.

She stared back at him: "Then why don't you get over and done with it?"

The Count smiled as he thought about the ultimate evasion. "Because I'm new in this city and I hate to waste an opportunity to gather information."

"After I told you what I know - are you going to kill me?"

"Yes," he answered.

Her persistence began to annoy Dracula, it was almost like she was eager to die. Death most certainly was not among the things she feared. Vladislaus moved over and held out his hand to her. Elaine took it after staring at it for a few seconds. The vampire helped her up and she sat down on the edge of bed. In doing so, her gaze met the mirror and she observed the phenomena with interest.

"You are a vampire," Elaine stated finally.

"I'm not just a vampire, I'm Count Vladislaus Dragulia," he informed her and noticed that the name obviously meant something to her. A moment the vampire waited for her to say something but she just kept on looking at him. Only a strange noise broke the silence. He was not sure where it came from and the girl looked slightly uncomfortable as his eyes met hers.

"What have you done to get into this situation? From what Lace told me, he does not pick his targets randomly," Dracula asked.

"No, he is pretty much keeping to his laws," Elaine told him as if it was a bad thing. Sighing she added: "What got me in this situation, is the fact that I believed that his laws were not in our best interest as Lace constantly tries to convince us."

Her voice became lower and it seemed as if she did not believe in her former views anymore.  
"And in what manner did you express your beliefs that you were sentenced to death?" the Count inquired.

"I participated in the attack on the Mad Hatter's teahouse."

"I heard of the event but I am not familiar with any details."

"Details? The whole mission was a massacre - blood on the walls, ripped-off body parts, burned skin - just that it was us who lost. All because of that damn werewolf!" It seemed she was about to cry, her hand clutched her stomach.

Vladislaus did not want to push her but he was curious how it came to pass that she was the only survivor. Then the noise struck again. This time he was sure that it came from her. He eyed the girl carefully but continued nonetheless to question her.

"Werewolf? You mean Parker?"

She nodded. "If he and his scout-troop had not returned ahead of time..."

"What I still don't understand - why would the Masked One want to obliterate a teahouse?"

Elaine leaned her head on her right shoulder. "Because a lot of the city council members spend time there after their meetings."

Again, this time in mid-speech, the girl produced the unfamiliar noise.

"Will you stop that!" Dracula ordered her.

Her eyes became wet with tears. "I can't! I haven't eaten in days."

This time the sound was even louder. Dracula vaguely remembered that empty stomachs often spoke of their need for food, but he had not been confronted with that effect for centuries. Vampires suffered from lack of blood but differently from mortals who had nothing to eat. It was more of a silent pain that took hold of the whole body.

"In that case, I think I should get something to eat for you."

"Really?" she asked, shyly, with a hint of gratitude.

"Just say what you like and I'll have my servants prepare it," the Count told her. "Think of it as the Last Meal."

Elaine smiled softly which was odd enough given what he had just said. "Some fish would be nice," she said, blinking "but if that is too complicated, I take anything, it's just that I adore seafood."

"I don't think it will be," he said.

Dracula excused himself and went downstairs to call his servants. Moments later, one of them appeared in the door-frame. He looked a bit tired, but nonetheless he bowed and said: "What is your wish, my Lord?"

"I need some food, some fish delicacy or something similar", he told him.

"Something hot? Or ...", the man asked, but the Count interrupted him.

"Just something that has a good taste - and fast because my guest is very hungry."

The mortal nodded. "I could bring down some snacks from the banquet for now, and for later ..."

Cutting in again Dracula said: "There will be no later."

"In understand, my Lord, I'll hurry now." The servant bowed and left quickly.

Alone again, he thought about his strategy. The meal and a little extra effort should take care of her current state of mind. He wondered if he should really ask her more details about the fight in the teahouse. But he was too curious to really put the thought out of his head.

The vampire had not to wait long, not even five minutes had passed when the servant returned with a silver plate covered with little pieces of bread with all sorts of fish and decoration on them.

"Will you need anything else, my Lord?"

"No you may retire now." With that Dracula turned, locked up the apartment behind his servant and returned to Elaine. As he handed her the plate, she sighed with gratitude before she began eating the bits rather hastily.

"Why did the Masked One challenge Lace in the first place?" he asked eventually, when he supposed that her first hunger was satisfied.

Elaine swallowed hard. "Because he believes that we, the children of darkness, should rule over the mortals, not with them. It can't be right that Lace values their lives over ours. I'm a witch, I'm loyal to the Dark lord. It's not right, it's not how it's supposed to be."

Dracula had the feeling she was about to cry. As if she could not believe what had been done to her. Something in her voice began to make him feel sorry for her. The sense of supremacy, the belief in her own superiority that had drawn her to the Masked One's side was shattered. All that was left of a once proud witch was a frightened child awaiting her death.

And part of him felt that she had a point. After all he hated to be restricted like that, he hated not be able to pick any mortal he liked, be it for siring, draining or other pleasures. Still, the Count also understood Lace's point. The city was the mage's playground and anyone disobeying the rules was punished. He would have done no less. When the time was right Dracula would decide what to do about Lace. The vampire felt that on the long run he could not bear anyone's standing between him and his desires.

"Lace seems sure enough that he can not be dethroned," he told her.

The girl took a deep breath. "So it would seem ..."

"What did he do to you?" the vampire asked as softly as he was able to.

"You wouldn't understand."

"Maybe - but maybe you felt better if you could tell someone..." Dracula suggested.

He counted on her sense of being punished unjustly and hoped he could raise a desire to plead her case to someone who was willing to listen. Someone who was new in town and open to her side of the story. It was true that with a weakened belief the urge to recruit new believers faded but if he rubbed the possibility right under her nose it might kindle a small flame.

"Nothing can make me feel better!" she protested.

"Well, your stomach says otherwise - at least I haven't heard it in a while."

The girl looked at the small tray on the bed. Then she looked up again. "He - made me ... look in his eyes ..."

Dracula was indeed a bit surprised but to intrigued to say anything. After a few moments the girl continued.

"They are sure that he got them from his pact with Satan, however the opinions differ from whether he got them as drawback or if he asked for them," trembling lips cut her off again. Then slowly she said: "I can't find the words to describe what it is like to stare into these holes of eternal darkness. It's a bit like getting drawn out of your own body, just you ... cold, small ... utterly worthless."

Tears dripped from her eyes as she clutched her arms so tightly that her nails left marks. She sobbed violently, but at least she was experiencing something else beside fear. Which meant that so far his plan was working. He wrapped his arm around her and petted her hair with gentle strokes. Some time passed, but eventually she calmed down a bit and, exactly as the Count had anticipated, leaned onto him for support. Normally, this would have been an opportune moment to go in for the final kill, bestowing one final terror on a trusting and naive victim.

It was not as easy this time. But Dracula realised that this made the situation far more interesting. A challenge with a very promising reward awaited him at the end of this act. Although he had to admit that it would have helped with the fun if the girl would have been more to his liking. She was not ugly but if he wanted to have a victim with so little soft spots he had chosen a well-toned male.

'Now onto infesting her with a little wrath over the injustice she now suffers from so badly', he thought.

"Tell me about what happened to the others in the teahouse," the vampire asked her.

Elaine shook her head. "It was supposed to be so easy. Even the council members of our kind were not especially powerful. We prepared ourselves so well. I brushed up my combat spells, Levin and Mara were two of the best swordsman in town. We even had two half-demons with us, they are much stronger than any mortal or witch. You should have seen their faces as we kicked in the door."

"They tried to run, but we had the front and back door covered. We did our best to make it as devastating as possible but ... suddenly there was this loud crash and I just saw a dark, huge shadow burst into the room behind me. I turned around and I saw this huge black wolf-beast with his claws emerged in Mara's chest. How oddly she looked at me - I'll never forget that look."

It was hard for Dracula not to smile as her voice became more and more firmly, almost aggressive as she remembered how her friends had died. He was on the right track.

"For a moment the girl buried her face in her hands. "Next thing I recall was that it was Parker, while he was not even supposed to be in town. Still he was there, and I had nothing better to do than to call his name. He came towards me and I backed right up into one of his men. Now I can even remember seeing one behind Parker attacking the rest of my team, but back then I was utterly surprised as something hit me and sent me to the ground."

"Did you pass out then?" he inquired.

"If only," Elaine said angry. "Parker was not too sure whether he should kill me on the spot or not. They always say what a nice guy he is, but I have seen who - what he really is. Mutilating Mara and holding me with one claw wrapped around my neck one foot over the ground - like some kind of sandbag. While I was slowly choking I had a grand overview over my team, my friends being shredded into pieces by his 'boy scouts'. I thought I was done for, too - but Parker decided that it would be much nicer to have one survivor so his boss can have some fun, too."

Dracula just let her rage on. While he was listening, he caught his thoughts drifting away to all those things he needed to do in order to catch up with this new age.

"You know," the girl continued. "The Masked One is right about one thing. Lace wants to minimize our numbers - because ordinary mortals are so much easier to control than witches and demons. Not that he does not try to, rules here, rules there... Oh no, you can't kill this guy he is a baker and a citizen - useful. Bakers should not be more important than witches. Don't you think so?

The Count nodded: "Absolutely. I killed quite a few bakers in my time, but then again I seldom ask my meals about their occupation."

"And why should you? You are the King of the Undead - a major player in the grant scheme of things. But for Lace, this is of no importance. Be on your guard. As much as you might believe you are using him - he will use you for a number of things the same time."

As much as Dracula disliked the thought of someone using him, he could not deny the possibility. Lace was without a doubt the ruler in this city, not unlike he had ruled over the vampires and all the other creatures in Eastern Europe so many decades ago.

"As you said - I am a major player. I'll see to it that Lace does not use me more as I use him."

Elaine smiled as she heard the Count's words. Intrigued, she turned around and said: "You really are Dracula, aren't you?"

Something in her voice made him feel not angry at all. Instead he confirmed it with great pride.

"I am most certainly are. I might have been detained a few decades, but what is time for an immortal?"

It was hard for the vampire to place the expression on the girl's face, but being blessed with an abundance of self-confidence he figured that she must feel honoured and intrigued to meat someone as important as him. Which was right to the point in her case. Now that Elaine believed that he was who he claimed to be she could not help it.

The young witch was the kind of person had the ultimate need to belong to the elite which was in her case the ruthless, god-fearing mortal slaying sort of people. Not that she had not used to be a very proud witch herself but even though she was a follower not a leader.

Right now Dracula wanted to exploit the mood she was in. The mixture of emotions he had put her through had worked well and the vampire was ready to go for the finishing touches. Carefully, he let his fingers run over the left side of her face. As she leaned into his hand he knew he had not misjudged the situation.

He began kissing her neck and drew her closer with his free arm. It was not easy for him not to answer the call of her beating heart at his chest or the throbbing pulse under his lips. Resisting his primary urges, he nibbled on her earlobe until a small sigh escaped her lips and her hands moved to his back. Elaine was instinctively handling the situation the right way as her lips began to work their way to his mouth.

She might not have the softest and most luscious lips in existence, but the way her tongue sensually worked on his made more than up for it. The Count was a bit surprised as she so easily slipped into a state of passion but as he concentrated harder on her he realised that she was still very upset and scared. He figured that she must feel a certain safety within the act.

In fact, her attitude was not so much about safety as about forgetting.

Which was probably not the best reason to have sex but even had he known, the Count would have barely cared. After all, things were going as had planned and he had anyway been looking forward to this part. The vampire opened the front of his shirt, and her hands found her way quickly down to his belly. Where her soft fingers had passed his chest, her lips followed and sucked tenderly on his nipples.

With Elaine's help he quickly removed the fabric from his arms. Realising that sitting on the bed, with her already kneeling on top of it, was rather uncomfortable, he changed his position and joined her. While he was at it, he shoved the plate off the bed and it clashed on the floor. A bit stung by the noise, Elaine paused in her caressing his bare chest until he encouraged her further by stroking her still-covered breasts with his fullest attention.

His kisses found their way on her tempting neck once more and despite his almost painful yearning he began to enjoy himself. It was almost like in the old times. She really began to loosen up. Her hands were suddenly busy to open the buttons and hooks at the inside of his trousers. The zipper followed soon enough and from the yearning sighs she made he guessed that it was time to get her out of her dress.

The rather simple lacing on her back was loosened in no time, and moving his hands from her shoulders down to her arms he removed the gown from them.

Then, in the right moment, he growled, letting the beast inside him out. Before Elaine could recognize it as the sound of her doom, the rows of razor sharp, long teeth buried themselves deep into the open side of her neck and throat. Blood spilled inside his mouth almost quicker than he could swallow.

And what a pleasure it was. As so many sensations rushed through him at the same time he was unable to sort them all out. Not that it mattered. Dracula did not even notice how Elaine's body grew limb after her hands had grasped his body in shock. The witch died quickly, the suddenness of it all had caused a minimal reaction that vanished among the richness of the emotions already dominating her blood.

Throwing his head back and the witch aside, he sent a roar of utter satisfaction through the apartment. Then, the Count licked his lips and finally looked down at Elaine's dead body. Her eyes were wide open, fixing having their dead stare upon him. The vampire smiled not just because of feeling so excited and pleased but because now he could feel how strong her blood had been indeed. He felt stronger, he felt it powering up his sense, giving him back the energies he had lost so long ago.

Dracula laughed out loud. Lace might have strange priorities, but he certainly knew how to make presents.


	15. Feedingtime

A/N: Many thanks to Nicola for beta-reading this chapter for me!

Chapter 15: Feeding-time

It was a comforting sensation to have his powers coming back, even though the vampire knew it would not heal him completely. Today he would rest knowing that when he woke up he would be much stronger than during any of these past month. Vladislaus wrapped the dead girl up in the blanket she was lying on and put her on the floor. His servants could clean up tomorrow.

After that he went to bed himself, falling asleep, as far as it could be seen as sleep, almost instantly. Some said that the more powerful one was the more troubled his sleep. With Dracula it was the other way round, if he even chose to rest, since it had not been really necessary. He and his brides had been stronger than all the other vampires and could withstand daylight and could make up for lack off sleep by drinking more blood. Not that they needed that much of it anyway and even less with each year.

Thus the Count was not surprised as he woke up feeling perfectly satisfied. He felt even stronger than last night. Striding from the bed he walked, still naked, to seek something to test his strength on. Down at his little ball room he saw a gigantic iron candleholder about his height. The main beam struck him as humanly impossible to bend.

Just as he was about to stroll down the stairs, Vladislaus became daring and focused to see if he could change into his bat-form. Triumphantly he stretched his wings out that grew, reluctantly, but steadily. Having enough room he leapt down after he finished the transformation. It was not coming as easy as it should have been and he felt a slight drawback on power that reminded him that he still needed the mage's help to return to full strength.

Angrily he grabbed his target and bent the candleholder like a small twig with very little effort. Before he could think of other ways to test the success of last night's adventure, the sound of the door bell interrupted his train of thought. Turning towards its direction he changed back almost automatically. Looking down he realised that for the first time in centuries his clothes had not automatically grown back.

Maybe it was time to choose a new set of standard clothing that would accompany him over the next few centuries. They had to be black but if he recalled the shop-owner had left some suggestions. The doorbell sounded again but instead of being upset he warped two the bed chamber without the slightest problem and open his wardrobe. For now the tight cut black pants and the satin shirt of the same colour he had tried on briefly yesterday about the same time would have to do.

Dracula dressed in no particular hurry. If it were his servants that rang so impatiently he would teach them a lesson, if it was anybody else, he would see what to do. Six rings later he was dressed and warped down. Enjoying very much that he had not to walk anymore over long distances, he opened up. To his surprise it was Alicia standing in front of the door.

Raising an eyebrow, the Count addressed her. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Good evening, to you, too, Count," she said, dryly. "Lace had to leave the town on urgent business for a few days, so he asked me to show the library and answer any questions you may have."

He did not need to be able to read her mind to know that she was about as happy to be here as a dog in a blizzard. The girl looked rather pretty despite the sour look on her face but that did not put Dracula off from the fact that he was getting angry at her being so indifferent about him. If he had been back in Transylvania this would have been the moment to drag her inside and show her who was the master. But as he was in Los Angeles he just replied politely.

"I hope I'm not keeping you from anything important."

"Not really," Alicia replied and sighed.

"So it is my company that bothers you so much," Vladislaus said.

"Count - not all my worries and troubles have to do with you," the girl replied, firmly.

'How fortunate,' Dracula thought.

This could work to his advantage. Provided that he was able to solve her problems it would be beneficial to his plans for her.

"Then why don't you show me the library now?" he suggested.

Alicia nodded and waited for him to close the door before she turned and walked to the elevator. It was obvious that she was not in the best mood. The dancer was even grouchier than during the ball. Her steps were fast and forceful, Dracula did not saw the need to hurry like this, but he did not want to make an argument of it.

Once they stood in the cabin the vampire said: "I hope you have slept well."

"I guess I did," she replied and hit the button with the eighty-eight on it. "Just not long enough."

"So what troubles you?" he asked her once the doors were closed.

"Lace told me to show you around - not to outline the roadmap of my soul."

Feeling slightly thrown off as she mentioned her soul, he nevertheless came up with what he figured would be a good reply.

"You already told me about your mother's death. What could be a more difficult and personal subject?"

Alicia mumbled something that sounded like she admitted that he had had a point but was not ready for further communication. Seconds afterwards they reached the library and the dancer strode forward to a huge counter with three young people behind it. Opposite of him were huge stained-glass doors, giving a hint what was to be expected in the inside. Facing the counter was a huge stone basin filled with earth, lots of green plants and stones. It even had a small fountain.

"It's supposed to bring fresh air in to the waiting room and looking at it is considered relaxing," Alicia said slightly amused, seeing his doubtful look.

"Well, it seems Lace has a foible for growing things," he said.

"I guess you are more into dead things," she replied, before turning to the young women behind the counter. "Hi Cindy, I am sure you have heard of our new guest - Count Dracula."

"Yes, I have," she said with more than just professional courtesy.

"Count this is Cindy, she recently became our chief librarian," Alicia continued the introduction.

"A female librarian, what a nice century this is," Vladislaus told her.

"Are you an avid reader?" she wanted to know.

"If I already wasn't - I'd be one now," he continued the flirt.

"Swell," Alicia interrupted. "The system here is quite easy, the librarians are here all night and day, you can read in the library or you can take the books with you. In which case you have to check the books out at the desk here."

"Another of Lace's rules?" he said still looking at Cindy. Dracula was curious if an obvious flirt with another woman might bring something out in Alicia. The vampire did feel that she was annoyed, but he had the notion it was not out of jealousy. He figured that he just needed a more worthy opponent to bring out any hidden tendencies. Cindy was pretty but Lace's future apprentice was a different league.

"People tend not to return the books - so we have to keep an eye on things. If this was your library, I think, you would do the same."

Dracula grinned. "If this was my library, I doubt I let anyone near my books, except maybe a talented female librarian."

"Figures, but I doubt that you and one person could take care of all those books", Alicia replied.

"There can't be that much books on this floor."

"Not on this floor, the research terminals take up quite a lot of space, but on the other nineteen floors there are quite a few bends to dust," she retorted.

"This library covers about twenty floors?" Dracula said, surprised.

"We got over eight-hundred million different titles, and our microfilm and online archive is even larger," Cindy answered.

"Despite not knowing about what a microfilm or online is, I'm impressed."

"Well, you'll find a lot in here that will help you catch up with modern times," Alicia said.

Dracula was a bit upset about her remark. Obviously everyone knew about his huge gap in knowledge. It was only natural considering what had happened to him, but he hated to be connected to any kind of weakness.

"In case it is not too much to ask, how about you continue your flirting later, while I show you the basics - or better yet, why don't you let Cindy show you around", she continued.

"Well, I would not dream about keeping you from your duties, I'm sure Cindy and I will have enough opportunities in the future."

Rolling her eyes toward the ceiling, Alicia turned. "Just follow me."

Kissing Cindy's hand good-bye he went after Alicia through the huge doors. There was large open spot where a lot of desks with strange things stood, but even more fascinating were the huge shelves filled with books. They did not waste much room. The books had become a lot smaller than he was used to, but the mass alone impressed him more than any before mentioned number.

Alicia led him around this level explaining that the seating arrangements at the outside windows were on all levels. Also never more than half of them are used. Looking at the comfortable sofas Dracula could imagine how comfortable it must be lying there reading something in the respectful stillness of this location. The view of the city was somewhat spectacular. Later he found out that in some floors the windows were lined with chairs and working desks.

There were also two small cafeterias, were people could stop by for a drink. For the rest of the library eating and drinking was of course not allowed. The opening times allowed for a less crowded atmosphere. Alicia assured him that quite a lot of people came here. Still with that much space and only three thousand allowed in, a lot was not that many. At least not with about three million registered citizens in Los Angels.

The city library itself was even bigger and books could be exchanged, if necessary, except for a few titles that had to remain here. There were two librarians on each level ready to take requests, organize books from town or fetch them from their resident locations. The only thing that really bothered the Count was that he could not see all the readers.

For now Alicia explained him were he could find what kind of book and how he could locate them without help. Finally after she had shown him around, she lead him to an area with history books. "Here, 'Technological advances in the last 150 years' that would be my recommendation," the former dancer said.

"Why not? I take it with me, something to read after dinner," Dracula replied.

"Fine, I show you threw the check-out procedures and then if there isn't anything else you need to know right now, I leave you to fetching something to eat."

Vladislaus had to smile at her way of putting it. Something about her made him believe that she was just playing hard to get. So maybe acting less interested was the best way to proceed. "Oh I'm sure Cindy and I can handle it alone," he told her.

Alicia grinned: "And I'm sure she won't be there anymore. She has better things to do than spending all day at the check-out."

"Oh, well, but you go and solve your problems anyway, I think I'll have a second look in the vampire novel section - it sounded interesting."

To his surprise the young woman actually smiled and her face softened a bit. "Sounds like a good plan, I wish I could say I have one nearly as good."

"If there is anything I can do ...", the vampire offered.

She shook her head. "If there was something that could be done, Lace would already have set things in motion."

It was not what he had wanted to hear, still she seemed a bit less hostile. The magician proved to be an annoying competition, also he was obviously not even interested in her the same way as the Count. Before they went their separate ways she told him where he could find her in case he was in need of further assistance.

Following his idea he went to the horror novel compartment and took a closer look at the vampire novels. He was amused about how many there were. Closing his eyes, he took a random book out. Dracula expected that this would really be a funny thing to read. Mortals writing about a creature they had never met. He checked-out both items and returned to his quarters. Now it was time to get something to eat, later he would have a look at the history book.

"Hi, there", Sonja said cheerfully as Alicia stepped into the living room. The dancer had not been awake when her friend left to fetch the Count and was now wearing a facial mask to support her heavily stressed skin. Alicia could tell that her friend was just about to finish her all morning beauty treatment. Parts of her legs were still shining from the body lotion, her morning gown was loosely tied and she lay out-stretched on one of the sofas with her eyes closed.

"Well, at least one of us is in a splendid mood," Alicia said and set down on the padded stool that went with the sofas.

Sonja sat up slowly. "Was it that horrible yesterday?"

"No, it has nothing to do with the Count. Lace just came to me earlier this morning. He left the city and wouldn't tell me why. It has something to do with the Crusaders, I'm just worried."

"Please, he can handle a whole battalion of those creeps. I'm sure he had a very good reason for not letting you in on what is going on", her friend told her.

"Maybe, you are right, I just thought he trusted me by now," Alicia frowned.

"I guess Lace trusts you about as much as he can bring himself to trust someone", Sonja said and began to rub her friend's shoulders gently. "And you have been up ever since and - you're really tight."

"It's not that, I had to tour-guide the Count around," Alicia replied slightly annoyed.

"And?"

"What and, he made his advances, then tried to make me jealous by flirting with Cindy," Alicia explained as Sonja interrupted her for a moment with muffled laughter, "I don't know what Laces sees in him."

"Well, it is hard to say, what Lace finds so fascinating about pretty much anyone", Sonja said in a teasing way.

"Oh," Alicia gave her playful hit with the elbow.

"He, I - of course - was referring to Lady Rain," Sonja continued and then bend down to whisper in her friend's ear, "I totally understand why someone would go crazy about you."

"Oh please," Alicia replied uncomfortable. "It's not that I can understand you having made that move on me, but we know each other for so long - why would a total stranger like Dracula being so boringly persistent?"

Sonja drew back a little but continued her massage. "Well, another proof of how I failed miserably to explain to you the concept of passion and sexual attraction. Just take my word for it. One good look is all that it takes."

"Oh please, Sonja not again."

"What?" the dancer shrugged her shoulders.

"You have cast that one look that is needed on Dracula, haven't you?" Alicia confronted her.

"He is gorgeous, if he is half as good in bed as he dances ..."

Alicia groaned. "Haven't you learned anything from that dreadful episode with Dallas?"

"I have," Sonja said and backed up, "but you don't. I had a good reason to tell Lace that punishing him wasn't necessary, that everything that happened was my will, too."

"Don't tell me, you dated him to get cut up and raped."

Sonja walked up and down, she was more than slightly angry. "See, that's it again. I knew I was risking a lot going with him, that he hadn't exactly the best reputation with women, but that was what attracted me to him."

"So what do you want to do now?", Alicia asked loudly as if she wanted to wake up her friend. "To repeat the same thing with the Count? Do you realise that this time you won't get away with just a few cuts and some bruises? He is a vampire and he will kill you if don't keep your distance. Opportunity makes the thief."

"He is not like Dallas, maybe you don't see a difference, but he isn't nearly as cruel. Besides, Dallas fancied me, while the Count is obviously more into you."

Sonja strode out of the room.

"So now you are running away from argument," Alicia barfed at her.

"Yes, I am," the dancer replied, "and if you don't mind I need to attend to the stuff on my face."

With that the bathroom door was shut loudly.

Returning to his quarters he called upon his servants to ask Virginia whether she would like to go out and hunt with him at this time of night. To his surprise the man wasn't upset at all, bowed and went to visit the lamia. A visit upstairs in his bed room revealed that they obviously had cleaned the corpse out and tidied up the room.

That was service the Count could get used to. At all times he had always had to be rather careful with his human servants, but this was obviously different in this city.

He placed the books on the large table upstairs, took his leather coat and played with the thing in the living room that made music. The automated voice asked him which music files he wanted to download to his list and that wasn't an easy question, especially since the only songs he knew were church related and didn't interested him anymore and he wasn't familiar with anything else. So he was relieved when he discovered some familiar names like Mozart or Beethoven on the lists.

"Maybe you should try the option to select your music by style," Virginia's soft voice caught his attention. He hadn't heard her come in and he only realised her presence fully as she was approaching him and the feeling of coldness ran over his skin.

"Did I startle you? I'll try and remember to knock next time."

"No, don't do that, I have to learn to recognize the presence of other undead. I hear the heartbeat of anything living and I sense my creations, there must be away to sense you," Dracula told her.

"Very wise, one can never be too careful. So shall we go or do you want some more help with that?" the lamia asked.

"You can tell me on the way," he said and took his coat.

Together, talking about music, they went downstairs, where a huge black car with a driver waited for them right in front of the main entrance.

"Do you always drive down there?" the vampire wanted to know.

"Why waste time walking, when you can spend it hunting?" Virginia replied with a wicked smile.

Dracula knew this was going to be fun as he had always loved to hunt in company. The lamia was, of course, not like his old brides whom he missed dearly in this moment but she came very close. He wondered if Alicia or Sonja would make nearly as good hunting companions. Then again hunting had always been more fun with Marishka and Aleera, while he imagined Alicia being more like Verona - going for the quick kill without toying around much. Then again, Verona had had her advantages, too.

Passing through the Street of Success, the car slowed down and Virginia lowered her window. "Hello Chris, I'd missed you at the party."

Dracula took a look at the head of the Nightcrawlers, and he could see that despite his age he was well trained and fit. Even though he could not see him directly, as part of his body was shielded by the car, the Count recognized from the heat signature of his body that the man was turning left and right with care.

"Well, I'd like to come," he admitted slowly, "but Lake has been acting weird ever since that vampire set foot in town. She has nightmares and says the end of the world has come."

"That's quite flattering," the vampire said aloud and smiled at Christian's startled reaction.

His thoughts were now even easier to read, the man was a bit upset about loosing two of his men, but even more he was concerned about his lover. Still he controlled his anger and he was smart enough not to blame him for what has happened. Vladislaus sensed a good deal of interest, mixed with fear and respect, as well.

"Well, Count, do you plan the end of the world?"

"Not at the moment and frankly, I don't fancy the idea of a world without humans that much," Dracula replied. A time without blood wasn't anything he wanted to experience again.

"That's what I have been telling her, but she is convinced that you are the messenger of Armageddon for us all," he shrugged. "Anyway, my problem, you two have nice evening."

Since it was evident, that he did not wished to address his personal problems in front of the vampire and had tried to play it down, Vladislaus decided to let it go. There was always time to learn more about Lace's loyal subjects.

"Thank you, Chris," Virginia said and they went on.

"You seem to get along with him quite well," Dracula asked her.

The Lamia smiled: "I worked under him, that was when he was quite young and before he met Lake. For a mortal he is easy to get along with. Plus he kind of reminds me of my husband."

"Your husband?"

"I was married, I was really lucky. His father had lost his older sons through war, he was too sick to marry himself and so I got a very handsome and young husband. Despite the miserable times, I was really blessed. That was of course before I was bitten," she said.

"I had no idea," he stated not knowing what else to say. This moment was a bit too emotional for him to cope with.

Virginia noticed and shook her head signalling that he need not feel bad about it. Both felt quite relived as the driver stated that they had arrived in Merry Ville. He opened the door for his two passengers and was then ordered to turn the car and wait for them. Excited, Virginia winked at him to follow.

The lamia lead him through the dark streets and showed him where to find the best victims and how to avoid drug-addicts or other distasteful specimen. They made it a game to scare some poor brothel visitor, who ran away in panic and was terribly surprised as the Count appeared out of nowhere. Maybe it was a bit silly of them, but the adrenalin did wonders to the taste of the otherwise pitiful blood.

Also it would have been much more fun to explore the Golden City during a hunt, Vladislaus could not complain. It was fun and after the first taste of blood they separated, leaving the corpse behind for the ghouls. The lamia went to find a replacement for a recently deceased member of her little snack-room that the Count had already become familiar with and he intended to do the same.

Walking down a pathway he saw a well dressed woman standing with his back to him. She was obviously talking to someone in the building one inch from her left shoulder. Things were exchanged through a window until it was shut abruptly. The moment the woman turned her face back to the street, he appeared out of thin air right in front of her.

Her eyes shot wide open and the face turned ash-white. Stepping back, Dracula recognised her. It was the girl he had seen on his first night at Christian's side. Lake was the name, he had heard earlier.

"So we meet again, Lake," he told her.

The woman continued to stare at him, her back at the wall. She swallowed once, but didn't say anything. Goosebumps appeared on her neck as Dracula moved his face closer to it. He assumed that there was no rule against killing her right on the spot.

"Do I remember wrong or did I already heard you talking?" Vladislaus began to tease her.

Swallowing again, she replied surprisingly calm: "Why should I bother?"

"You don't have any last words?"

"No," she said, "when I die, I won't have a chance for it. I know ..."

The reply confused the Count. She was scared beyond her wits and still she talked as if she knew that he wasn't going to kill her.

"Why do you fancy another form death?" he asked her removing the hood of her cape. "Aren't you being scared of what I could do to you?"

"Worse things could happen to me," she said with her voice trembling.

"I agree," the Count whispered against her throat.

Lake closed her eyes only to miss that Dracula was taking a step back. Slowly she dared to look at him. Vladislaus turned away from her. He hadn't had any interest to kill her from the beginning. The vampire had no intention of turning Bale into an enemy, when he might have some use for him some day.

"Wait," the woman suddenly said. Having his attention, she added. "May I touch you?"

"You say that as if you were considering touching fire."

Nodding slowly, she replied: "I do. I now your arrival here will bring death to this city and I - I have to learn more."

"I don't have any intention ..." he began, but she interrupted.

"No, but that won't change anything, this city is doomed and you are the key, please ...?" she raised her hand.

Vladislaus let her and Lake's cold fingers made contact with his cheek. Gasping in shock, she withdrew after a few seconds.

"And, did you learn more?", he wanted to know.

"I saw a face, the face of an unholy demon, an immortal, a fallen saint ...", she was still breathing heavily and the Count wasn't sure what to make of her words. "... he wore the signs of a holy man, but I knew his true-self. He is the one responsible for your death, only if you can destroy him in time, you alone can save us."

Lake turned back homewards, but Dracula wanted to know more. "You are talking about Gabriel," he said, stepping in her way.

"Please, that is all I know, all I could learn, I - need to rest."

Looking more closely at the woman, the vampire saw that she was worn out. To do whatever she just had done had taken a lot of strength out of her. Something told him that it had been for real, that this woman was special and possibly an ally. Dracula swept her of feet and carried her on his arms.

"I agree, let me take you home." 


	16. The great picture

A/N: Sorry this took so long, I post in un-betaread, but I have looked through for errors and if you feel like pointing out those I overlooked, go ahead ;)

Chapter 16: The great picture

After he had returned with the lamia to the Black Tower, the Count remained thoughtful. Of course he had talked with Virginia about what he had learned and the ageless woman agreed with him on it's significance. The only thing he had kept to himself was the fact that the description of his enemy seemed to fit his old friend Gabriel perfectly.

The Count agreed with her that it was best to discuss the subject with the mage upon his return. Only then he would decide whether to tell Lace about it implying Gabriel or not. It was not something Dracula envied to share, thinking about the vampire hunter had been something he had tried to avoid for centuries. But apparently it was no use, their fates seemed to be intertwined and he doubted that he ever would be able to put his old friend behind him.

Thinking about it, he should have known that they would meet again. All those years he had known Gabriel as a mortal man, the so-called Left Hand of God, hasn't aged one day. Vladislaus remembered the evening, when his father had brought the handsome young man home with him. Being a knight of the Holy Order, Valerious the Elder, had been given the honour of taking the man without memory in.

Teaching him in languages and the art of fighting, because everyone agreed that he was something special. An emissary from god. Vladislaus had been twelve years old, then. Nothing more but a boy eager to learn as much as he could to impress his father. First he had been frustrated how quickly Gabriel had mastered his lessons, but then they began to train together. The stranger without memories had been both for him - brother and mentor. In time they both had become Knights of the Order.

He had never even found out if Gabriel's sudden order to visit Tibet - for some additional training tactics - had something to do with the Cardinal's disapproval of the deep, almost intimate relationship, that grown between them and was far from just being brotherly or platonic. Back then he had not given it any thought. He had been very busy accomplishing difficult and bloody mission for the church. Then the years went by, he grew older while Gabriel was caught up elsewhere.

He probably should have notice that Gabriel hadn't ages, but the long beard and the anger in his eyes must have deceived Vladislaus. And after the betrayal nothing but hate and thoughts of revenge had been upon his mind.

Except for those moments, when there had been nothing to keep him distracted and this empty feeling had befallen him. Somewhat during this time, it seemed that he had lost all feelings that have been good. Which wasn't entirely true as he had discovered only recently. Determined to stop thinking about this depressing subject, Dracula forced himself to read the history book. Which was very informative, but became very dull to read due to the dry and entirely un-poetic way in which it was written.

It was almost three days before Lace returned and the whole time the Count had not left his quarters. The feeling of unhappiness left him rather unmotivated and he felt not up to do anything but read. Like he had used all his concentration to get a hold of the book and the information inside. Even worse was the realisation that the virus was feeding of him. An altogether unpleasant feeling for the vampire. His energies were fading too fast and since he had not grabbed himself a victim on this joint hunt with the lamia, there was no snack available close by and still he did not wanted to go out and feed again.

Virginia noticed the lethargy, but at the same time, she was too polite to poke deeper into his wounds. Paying a visit she brought him a present - a healthy young man to feed off - and offered an open ear. Dracula was very grateful, especially since she left without giving any sign of being upset when he did not wanted to talk. Vladislaus wondered if Lace had ordered everyone to take care of his needs or what other reason the lamia had to be this thoughtful about his well-fare.

But the blood did not helped much. First he took just a little sip, it strengthened him where his powers had grown weaker, but as continued to drink he felt how much of the energy was drained right away from that dreadful virus polluting his blood. Although Lace had told him that this was happening, it was the first time the Count felt it so explicitly.

As the day went by with Vladislaus contemplating his misfortune he was informed that the mage had returned and would be very happy if Dracula would join him later somewhere upstairs. The vampire wasn't going to miss this opportunity, especially since the magician might have some good news for him.

Somewhat slow but with growing enthusiasm he began to dress properly. He had forgotten how enthralling the satin of that black shirt had felt against his skin. Sometimes it was really dreadful not to have a reflection, but looking down at the black trouser which were rather tight at the back but very comfortable on the legs. Vladislaus was sure he looked fantastic. In honour of the new modern wardrobe, he decided to leave his hair open.

With swift steps he approached the elevator which took him to one of the top floors and followed the description; first corridor to the right and then the second to the left after that he was standing in front of a huge two-winged, leather-padded door. To his surprise it opened all by it self and revealed a luxurious lounge with large comfortable sofas. The walls were also leather padded and on the heavy, but small tables little lamps and green flowers were carefully placed. The light was comfortable as if his host had given extra thought to his improved eye-sight which made brighter light so uncomfortable to him.

"Good evening Count, as I have heard you had quite the interesting encounter the other day", the mage greeted him.

"That is one way to put it," Vladislaus said and took a seat.

He wasn't surprised that the mage already knew, Dracula just wondered who told him first, Virginia, Bale or Lake, herself.

"She seemed to have convinced you of her authenticity," Lace said.

"You think she isn't reliable?"

Lace poured himself a drink from the bar. "I am afraid, we should take her very seriously. She possesses the power and is not the kind of person to use it just for the fun of upsetting others."

"So what are you going to do about this?" the Count wanted to know.

"I am?" the mage seemed amused.

Dracula's eyes flashed with anger. Not just because of the reaction, but that it had seemed so natural to assume the magician would take care of a problem that was in fact his own to solve. Part of him wished to rip the mage limb from limb, but the wiser element got the upper end and he bit his tongue. Literally, actually, letting it slide against the sharp end of his fangs. Blood had such a soothing effect on him in times of anger, even if it was just his own tainted blood.

"I just wanted to clear up, that I am going to take care of this problem and that I do not like interference," the vampire said as convincing as he could.

"I most certainly won't argue with you on that. I just wonder, who is this Gabriel?"

The mage's information network worked a bit to good for the Count's taste. "He is a pawn - one that seems to miraculously appear at the right time at the right place..."

"Well I haven't heard of a crusader that goes by that name, at least no one of consequence, which is surprising considering the problem is supposed to be an immortal."

Dracula had already decided not to tell the mage more about Gabriel, like him having used the name Van Helsing in the past. The vampire was just revealing enough to get rid of the questions. If Gabriel indeed was to show up here, the Count would deal with him properly. Lace knew too much anyway, that could prove to be unhealthy. Especially since Vladislaus was not prepared to take his old friend out so fast. His murderer, the slayer of his brides and children, would not walk away untarnished or find a quick an easy way out like a fast kill.

He also wondered if he was really the only one that could kill Van Helsing, he did not believed that the prophecy was that accurate about this particular point. Maybe it was just up to him to stop him at the right point. Make him a vampire. What a nice thought this was, the Count had to think about all the beautiful torture techniques where mortals tended to lose conscience to fast. Letting go of his train of thought, he finally replied.

"He goes by many names probably due to his very bad memory."

Lace appeared calm, but his eyes seemed to stare at the vampire even through the glasses. "Interesting."

The manner in which his host replied, made him wish he had not said this. It was like his piece of the puzzle had given the mage an even greater part to the puzzle. Especially since the Count new very little about who Van Helsing really was. His knowledge was of more profound things, but nothing about what he truly was or who he was now. Even though the body was probably not so forgetful as his mind was, there was little use for it at the moment.

"I find it more taxing, what good is it to take revenge upon someone who does not even remember his crimes?"

The mage nodded. "Indeed that is very unsatisfactory. Sometimes lost memory can be brought back - tell me this 'Gabriel' - does he loose all of his memories or only certain parts?"

Dracula pondered the question. "I don't think he knows he is immortal. But I have come to believe he is even olden than I am."

"Any particular reason to believe that?"

"No, it's just a feeling ..." Vladislaus lied. In fact he knew that Gabriel was older than him.

The Count had referred to another quite solid suspicion of his, that his old friend had been around even longer than that. He might have realised this sooner had not all his energies been spent on not thinking about the past.

"... but I was wondering how much progress your research has made. Also I have no doubt that I could take care of matter right now."

"Unfortunately I still haven't found the right match. I know for what to look, but so far I haven't encountered a similar force. A werewolf is not necessarily evil, it was made evil, basically it is a force of nature; brutal and nearly uncontrollable. So the counterforce has to come from a force turned to good. I'm quite sure of that."

"Van Helsing?" Dracula said. Somewhat amused by the thought of Gabriel poisoning him and then being the cure of it.

"Well, bring him to me an we can test the matter - or better yet, suck him dry. You will feel it when you are whole again," Lace smiled. "Tell me, how much did improve Elaine's blood your condition so far?"

Dracula licked his lips remembering the taste of her powerful life elixir. "It was an incredible power boost...", he stopped. "And yet I have felt for the first time the venom draining power from it as well."

As long as the vampire concentrated he still could feel it. He was far from loosing control over his talents again and yet so far from being back to his old self. Almost as if realising that his guest felt bad about his state, the mage slightly changed the topic. "So did you took the chance of extracting information from her beforehand?"

"Would have been a waste if I didn't," the Count said.

"True, so what do you think of the Masked One's point?" Lace asked him.

Considering the fact that Lace seemed to be able to read him like an open book anyway, Dracula replied truthfully: "I think it is wrong to value mortal lives more than those of our kind."

Observing his host's reaction after revealing a slight agreement with his enemies opinion, all Vlad could see was amusement. Even before the Mage chuckled slightly..

"That is the thing, I do not value mortal lives more than those of witches, mages, creatures of the night and the like. I just think natural selection should apply to everyone whether one is mortal or something else."

"There is no natural selection among the likes of us, we live forever ..." the Count insisted.

"I beg to differ, everything can be killed, destroyed. There is no real immortality - everything has a weakness. The most common one among the most powerful is arrogance. There are those who are smart and those who are not, sometimes it is hard to determine who belongs to which faction. "

The vampire had to admit that the mage had a point. But that still did not explain why Lace made things so difficult for those blessed with powers. Although the Count was getting the idea of Lace separating people not into mortal or not, but into his smart/dumb scheme, he was still puzzled.

"I see, you still don't see the necessity to handle things my way. Probably because your world was blessed with an abundance of life-stock. But you have seen this world, you know how things are outside, where the demons run free. Where not even a witch can travel safely." Lace sighed slightly. "What would ultimately happen if let them kill here at will?"

It did not took Dracula long to see the city as she would be without Lace's rules. Dead and bare of life. Now Vladislaus saw the point. Lace wasn't protecting the mortals at all. Human numbers were decreasing all over the world, he nearly starved on the way here. Without control they might lose their food supply, or as probably in Lace's case the source of amusement, forever.

"I guess, I see your point."

"I know you would," Lace said honestly. "It's a shame when men - or women - in our league can't see the great picture. I'm not letting everything go to hell because of some random idiots, causing their own destruction in blind need for blood and torture."

"Still 'natural selection' seems a strange expression, when involving unnatural beings," Dracula replied.

"That would depend on the definition of the world 'natural'."

After some time of intense discussion on linguistics, a knock on the door interrupted the two. Madira and Jasmine entered the room. The mage had asked the dancers to join them. He actually found an non-offensive way of telling the Count that he thought he needed to indulge himself more into physical pleasures. In fact the vampire could not agree more.

Especially since his host had chosen so well. True enough, Jasmine wasn't really holding his interests, but she had an inspiring body and was intrigued enough by him to be a willing participant.

The two women sat down next to them. Within seconds Madira lay on the sofa, her head on Lace's lap, her knees bend with her feet resting near the edge. The manner in which the mage and his lover interacted was so sweet and playful that it was hard to believe he actually could inspire so much terror; yet alone just by looking him into the eyes.

Jasmine leaned closer and caught his attention. "There we meet again, I hope you approve of Lace inviting me to entertain you."

They separated, after half an hour filled with enthusiastic talk about the oldest sin in the book and the book just written around it. The Kamasutra, brought up by an innocent question of Madira's who had wanted to know if the famous vampire had tried all of them yet. Soon afterwards everyone agreed with the Count's point of view, that reading it was a waste of time; especially when having the opportunity to discover things on their own.

Jasmine spend a lot of time in the quarters of Dracula after this evening. She was really demanding and thus keeping him of too depressive thoughts about Gabriel most of the time. Not to mention that she was great source of inside information on the dancers and other things going on. The woman was talking quite careless when in bed, or whatever location they chose. Especially Alicia and her almost inseparable roommate Sonja, where topics the slightly jealous woman was eager to talk about. At least as far as it came to how they spent their time, what they liked and disliked and what they said about him and what others thought about them.

Everyone was kind of suspicious about the two girls who appeared out of no where and immediately got jobs and living priviliges in the tower and could begin their training as dancers. Jasmine was especially detailed about the wild, unclean state those two had been in when arriving. The vampire however thought it only to be natural, considering how tattered his own clothing were. He was more amazed how such young girls would manage to travel such distance all alone in such dangerous fields.

Unlike the rest of town who were assuming Lace had discovered his paedophilic site for Alicia, Vladislaus believed he must have seen her potential. In fact the mage had hinted more than once that both carried supernatural blood in their veins. He remembered that Alicia's mother was a witch and that the mage wasn't sure what being had snuck his way into Sonja's bloodline. But even now when it was so obvious that Lace was interested in her magic talent, there was a rumour that Alicia was his real lover and Madira just covering for show.

He knew that woman, Lace's new apprentice was not the least bit interested in any form of sexual interaction. Most of the dancers had accepted it by now, but people who only saw her dance could not believe it. Considering how professional and concentrated that woman was going on about everything she did, Dracula began to believe that she just had played the hungry for love woman when he had seen her first. But there was of course only one way to find it out for sure and the vampire was still working on it.

Sonja was more of an open book, everyone knew she was party girl and easy to get along with. Some also said she was easy to get in bed with but that did not quite fit it. Sometimes he would stand outside looking down in her apartment and he did not saw her very often having sex in that month. She often worked with two of the male dancers who obviously were in a very open relationship. And they often studied in performances together.

One evening, much to Vlad's surprise, the three of them ended up having the most appetizing ménage-a-troi he had seen so far. It convinced him all the more that Sonja had all the qualities a good bride needed. That woman had some passion boiling inside of her. He wasn't surprised to hear from Jasmine that the brunette dancer participated on quite a lot of group sex oriented parties, when she first became one of them.

Things became a little quieter after Lace had forbidden those parties. It was heard that some of the dancers had been feed to the ghouls for overdoing their freedoms a bit. Still parties among the dancer weren't uncommon and a lot of couples were into the partner exchange thing. Jasmine main reason for staying out of it, was because her boy-friend left her after some of those escapades or so she told the Count. 


	17. Long December nights

A/N: Changed a few sentences - still in need of a beta reader for this one.

Chapter 17: Long December nights

It was December and the city was covered in snow. It was a more recent development. Lace told Dracula that he was quite fond of snow in Winter, especially during Christmas. He had used the already disrupted climate and his magic talents to take control of the climate in his city. Vladislaus wasn't all that surprised when Kara told him that the song, the mage whistled quite often, was called "Dreaming of a white Christmas" or something like that.

A seemingly unfitting attitude for a man who had sold his soul to the devil, but the Count realised that Lace wasn't about to let anyone tell him what he had to do. The mage lived by his own rules and it would not surprise the vampire the least bit, if the devil himself was to show up and order Lace to stop celebrating the enemy's feast only to hear the mage reply with a "no".

Even though his host happened to like Christmas the Count was sure it was not for its Christian message of love, understanding and all the other nonsense he hated. The mage had said something about liking the atmosphere, the lights all over the city and the presents. Being the sole dictator of this city Lace was getting hundreds of them. Everybody wanted to be on his good side and this was must take opportunity for everyone.

It wasn't Lace's strange behaviour that occupied the Count's thoughts the most. It was how happy and content Lace seemed to be. The mage might not walk around with an open smile, but there was a certain peacefulness and calmness about him Vladislaus envied utterly. For most of his undead existence the vampire had felt bitter and hateful. Nothing had really amused him for long.

Mortals had just been playthings for him and of course food. No denying that he hadn't enjoyed playing them, moving them like pieces in a chess play or hunting them down like rabbits. But even this had become boring after a fashion. Maybe deep down he really had wanted to end it all, but so much had changed now.

Before he met Lace the Count had always assumed that this emptiness was caused by the loss of his soul. It had been a natural explanation to feel that much rage and hate towards almost anyone, the joy from making someone suffer and all the other deeds that seemed befitting of a man without soul or conscience.

There was no doubt on the vampire's mind that Lace actually did the same and sold his soul to devil, but at the same time the Count was sure that Lace emotional life had not suffered one bit from it. The mage still took pleasure from the littlest things, he was kind after a fashion and he even possessed a strange sense of fairness. He always treated all of his dancers with respect and was generous to anyone who was serving him loyally and with competence.

It made Vladislaus wonder if maybe love was the only emotion that required a soul. Because no matter how found he had been of his brides or how much he began to enjoy the company of certain individuals in this strange place that particular emotion seemed gone forever.

But those other new found emotions were certainly helping in passing the time. Due to the pre-Christmas activities, the city was buzzing with more parties and meetings than ever. Jasmine, the dancer he had chosen to entertain him would otherwise probably become a boring nuisance already. His past brides had always possessed a certain something that had kept him intrigued enough to chance him.

Jasmine had very little going for her, she was beautiful, elegant and not a bad lover either, but she was utterly witless. Her jealousy towards Sonja was poisoning Jasmine's thoughts more and more. Because even with all the extra attention she received at his side, the blonde dancer was still more popular.

Somehow she was stuck with the idea that Dracula intended to make her the most famous dancer of them all. So it did not strike her as odd that they were always frequenting social get-togethers were Sonja was also attending. Jasmine had not realised that the vampire cared little about their social agendas. He had his own goals and she was just there to provide him with extra information and naturally for his private entertainment.

When all that Christmas nonsense had started the count realised that Alicia was too focused on her studies to care about anything at all. If she actually attended a festivity it was because Lace wished it, but otherwise she had no interest in contact with others. She was always short worded and down right hostile towards him.

So Vladislaus knew he had to change his approach towards Alicia. Sonja was being her roommate and only real human contact the most promising way to start. Once he had one of the roommates under his spell, the other would have to follow. But approaching Sonja wasn't that easy, either. She was attracted to him, but unfortunately easily enough sidetracked by her ever-growing circle of admirers.

Occasionally the urge to rip out a few throats was surfacing, but he was learning to keep himself at bay. In this town he had to play by Lace's rules. In fact the count was beginning to find some thrill in the challenge. It was just his lack of patience he had yet to learn to handle.

Just as things seemed to look up, an unforeseen incident spoiled his plans and antagonised Sonja against him. It all began on the eve of the 18th at a party in the Casino. Jasmine verbally attacked her rival in a manner that sounded almost as if he had been behind it. Something about her lack of real relationships and some things one of the lamias called "psycho talk".

Sonja was more than a little bit upset and stormed out before he could say anything. If Jasmine hadn't technically been Lace's property he would sucked her dry right on the spot. Maybe in this case the mage would have understood, but in the end dumping her in front of all those people was probably a lot meaner.

The next day he got up early, meaning in the afternoon, and headed straight into the upper lounge on the 63rd floor where the security senior staff often gathered. It was always interesting to listen to the conversation Lace's elite had in here. Especially because the members were humans as well as creatures of the night. Like the lamias or Parker, the werewolf, his personal nemesis.

Tamineh, one of the security chiefs for the lower levels of the building, was telling Kara, the other lamia, about Sonja and Alicia having a terrible fight earlier this day. Apparently it has become so bad that Sonja had moved in with her two male dancer friends who resided in a part of the building which was under Tamineh's jurisdiction.

Kara asked if she knew the reason behind their argument and the mortal woman hinted that she believed that Sonja might have made pass on her roommate, after being so shock up by Jasmine's insults toward her person.

Dracula was not sure what to think about this, he needed more information, and maybe this provided to be the opportune moment to go and get Sonja into his bed. Knowing that Sonja spend a lot of her free time in the library, he assumed that she would now choose a time at which Alicia wasn't around.

The blonde dancer made herself rare for the next two days, but at the 21st he caught up with her in the library. The Count noticed immediately that she was unusually gloomy.

"From the look on your face, I dare say, what I heard is true."

The young woman looked at him in an not too enthusiastic way, before turning her eyes back to the bookshelf.

"Oh, and what is it, that you heard?" Sonja said.

Obviously she had been bothered by the topic a lot, or she just didn't want to talk about it at all. Anyway she was not frustrated but crushed and radiated little of her flamboyant charm. In fact had Vladislaus been a halfway considerate person, he might have noticed that the young woman needed a hug more than anything else. Trying the harmless approach he just said:

"Only that you had a fight with your friend that was so bad you moved out."

With much more determination in her eyes, she turned and replied: "Oh, really? Not that I nearly raped Alicia in the bathtub, that we fought and she threw me out of the apartment?"

Vladislaus blinked, Sonja did not seemed to be the forceful type to him. He never thought she would do something like that.

"How interesting," he replied.

"Starting to believe your own press?" she snapped back at him, before she grabbed a book and tried to walk past him. Grabbing her shoulder's he forced her to face him again.

"Wait a moment – what are you talking about ?"

"I'm talking about your girlfriend – Jasmine – spreading these lies all over the building, now let me go."

"No, I won't", he said taking the book from her with one hand and forcing her to sit on the nearest bench with the other one. Much to the Count's liking, she did not argued back and listened, even though she did not had the kindest expression on her face.

"She is not my girl-friend and I'm certainly not interested in spreading rumours about you", he told her firmly.

"Well, I don't care what you call her," she said.

"Oh, I think you do!" Dracula teased her and came intimately close to her face.

"I'm actually not in the mood for a dumb - I do, I don't exchange - so believe what you will," Sonja snapped back.

Her eyes went back and forth from left to right, as if she was just waiting for the best moment to dive out of his way. But Vladislaus did not notice. The blood that rushed through the veins of her bare neck and shoulder were just too inviting. Distracted for a moment, he peeked down her pullover that hid her breasts and the beating heart underneath them. Using that opportunity, she slid a bit aside, but the Count stopped her simply by touching her cheek.

Somewhat between him looking down at her and her looking up to him, a sudden urge overcame Dracula and he bent down and kissed Sonja. And if this had just been what she was waiting for, the dancer melted right into this kiss. There was something playful and teasing about the way she used her tongue that reminded him so much of Aleera that he expected Sonja to bite his tongue any given moment.

Totally drawn into the moment, they lost track of events when their hands explored each others bodies. Vaguely the Count realised that he bend further down placing her on the small bench. As he finally had broken off the contact between his lips and her skin, he heard a high pitched scream.

Looking up in the direction of the disturbance he saw a panic ridden teenage girl who as he now realised had caught him with bared fangs leaning over a semi-conscious Sonja. The dancer who was lying on the bench with her head hanging over the edge the neck exposed opened her eyes slowly. He backed up a bit, but nonetheless she realised what had been going on.

Quickly she dove away and as Dracula was used to giving his pray a the opportunity to run away he did not bother to stop her. It was only as she was gone around the bookstore, that he realised his ability to materialize anywhere within a given space had suffered slightly. Thinking about it he realised that I wouldn't do him much good anyway.

The mood of the moment was gone, with the object of his desire fleeing and the intruding girl had already caused others to come and see what was going. The Count felt so angry about it anyway, that it would be best for him to avoid talking, yet alone getting that intimate with anyone. The inability to really do as he pleased, his powers being so utterly dependant on what he was getting from Lace as special bonuses and this tip-tap game with the dancers all of it came up.

The girls should have been his long ago. Instead he had been wasting time with the second best selection and second guesses, trying to be polite and charming to get to what he wanted. Where he should have been able to just rip the information right from people's mind and take what he wanted just by grabbing it .

Given that Alicia, Sonja and Madira, too, would have been his brides long ago. Because they would have been his choices as those three where by far the most intriguing one's. Madira because she was the most beautiful and talking to her, he realised she had spirit and sensuality not unlike Verona used to have. While Sonja possessed this overabundance in lust and passion. The vampire had no idea if she would last long, but he had to make her his.

And Alicia's reminded him more than everything of Anna Valerious. Given she was much smarter and more focused, but just like his distant relative, she was in denial about her needs. Craving physical intimacy was something even the Count admitted having and felt he should be the one to teach her that lesson.

And it seemed only force would accomplish this and force was the only option he definitely not had. Not with a mage of seemingly limitless power and a werewolf as chief of his security. At least the spectators fled quickly as soon as they saw the angry vampire with his glowing eyes and extended fangs. Slowly the vampire regained his self-control.

Driven by instinct and the feeling of mortal danger Sonja had went straight toward the elevators. Being alone and safe in the small cabin descending to the lower floors, she wasn't about to calm down. The dancer leaned against the cabin wall and kept breathing in and out. Danger and men had always worked like an aphrodisiac on her and right now she was aroused as she hadn't been in a long, long time.

Back then that one night had been the most intensive and haunting experience of her life and she yearned to feel so again. All the sex since then had been almost meaningless, it had helped past the time, made her feel relaxed for a while, but it had been only a substitute. Still, as much as she wanted to turn back and just let happen what ever would, it wasn't able to overcome her sense of fear.

She had know herself for month that all that time having sex for relaxing purposes had only been a substitute for what was really lacking. This had been close, too close, being more intensive than her early one night-stands, it rivalled a sensation she had felt a year ago, for one night and she was tempted to head back to the count.

But while she was still trying to resist, the answer to an unspoken prayer walked right into the cabin as it stopped a few levels below. Sonja hadn't seen the guard before, but the uniform spoke for itself and the body language and look of the men did the rest. He was from the outside patrol, which meant he was reasonably safe, while he also had something wild and dangerous about him. Yearning as she was, Sonja needed about seven words and seven seconds to put the elevator on stop. After the guard got more heat than he could actually handle.

Meanwhile Dracula was summoned by Lace, who painfully as the occasion already was, had the Lady Rain with him. Not sure whether he could handle any lecturing or warnings from the mage about the recent events, he kept silent.

"Oh, dear Count, why so gloomy?" the annoying woman addressed him.

"I guess, he discovered the disadvantages of having foreplay in a public place," Lace said dry and with a smirk. "Also in fact, I have to admit I am to blame. Since I asked a certain young person to invite the Count to our little meeting."

Vladislaus couldn't help but smile at the mage's way of handling the situation. The vampire bet that his host knew exactly what was bugging him and elegantly he avoided any confrontation. It was just the question if there really had been a meeting before or after the incident in the library. He wouldn't put it past Lace to let him feel who was in charge and then acting like he was the most generous person under the pale moonlight.

"And who was the lucky tramp?" Sanguina asked with open jealously.

"I don't know, whom it was Lace sent down, but I can assure you, I am much more concerned about poor, unlucky Sonja, who I had to let go so abruptly."

What Lace could do, he could do as well. Normally he had ripped out anybody's throat who would dare to call one of his future brides a tramp, a slut or any other depreciating term, but if he had learnt one thing; it was that sometimes killing was too quick and easy. Since it was one of those occasions where Lace really laughed, namely about Lady Rain's chin dropping in disbelief, the Count felt quite successful.

"Oh don't worry about her", the fat woman replied angry, "She always finds someone to tend to her needs."

"You mean so unlike you?"

"How dare you!" she yelled. "Lace, did you hear what he just said? Will you let him insult your guests like that?"

"Well, you brought up the topic and I most certainly can't blame the Count for being so honest ...", Lace replied coolly. "Not to mention that as long as you continue to insult my apprentice's best friend, you can hardly blame anyone for insulting you."

Sanguina seemed quiet upset, her hands trembled and suddenly the glass in her hand broke under the pressure. She barely seemed to take notice of the shards stuck in her hand.

"Oh, well, if that is so, then you won't see me again until you come to your senses and show a bit more respect towards my person!"

With that, she dropped the rest of the glass and walked out of the room, her head held up very high.

"Does she really think we care?" Dracula said to Lace.

"That is for me to know and you to find out," Lace answered mysteriously and crouched down. Fetching a transparent plastic bag from his dinner jacket, he picked up a few of the blood-covered glass shards. Bagged them and then put them on the nearest table.

"Oh, I will!" The count said, also he was dying to know what was going on with that strange woman and her pathetic displays, he decided not to give the mage the satisfaction of asking again. "But for now, why don't you tell me what is was you wanted me to see about."

"Right, I was wondering if you might consider doing me a favour – there is a certain agent of the Masked One at large. Definitely capable of magic, who is able to overcome my magic protection fields and has tried to break in to this building already two times. Both on occasions, when I wasn't in town, I only sensed the intrusion after I came back."

"So you want to leave town, while I keep an open eye."

"That is the plan, I do want a word or two with the intruder, but afterwards, I'm sure you benefit very much from the person's blood."

"Speaking of blood," Vladislaus said. "Any success with finding a cure?"

The mage shook his head. "No, but then there are ample beings that haven't gone through the test yet. In the meantime, see it as the test of patience. One of the few virtues worth having."

The vampire thought that this was easy to say by someone in charge who literally controlled everything around him, but he wasn't going to complain, instead he asked: "Did I heard right, you still referred to Alicia and Sonja as best friends?"

"Actually they more like sisters, and then again not, some relationships can't be pressured into a definition. A little argument couldn't separate those two."

"I heard Sonja moved out, that sounds pretty serious to me."

"That was about time," Lace explained as he sat down o the nearest sofa. "It should have been done a year ago. Both are too different to actually be able to live that closely together."

"Why did they move in together in the first place?" Vladislaus inquired sensing that finally he might have the chance to get more information.

"I guess, it would only be fair to tell you, shall I send for drinks first?"

"No, thanks," the Count choose his place opposite of the mage.

"Fine, were do I begin? I think you already know that Sonja was born in a covenant and that her mother died giving birth to her," he began.

"No, I didn't." Vladislaus began to wonder how much of Jasmine's info had been true at all.

"Well, she wasn't very popular, the nuns who raised her treated her quite rottenly, saying her mother was the spawn of the devil. I analysed her blood several times, I could not find anything demonic in her blood, but I did find something supernatural that I can't account for."

"So when Alicia came, she found a friend for the first time. And Alicia being loyal above anything else, began to rely on her, too. You might have already noticed, that Alicia isn't very much into inter human relationships or with any other being for that matter. But Sonja got to her, she was the one insisting to come here in the first place. Alicia might not admit it, but she needs Sonja, which is why always watch out for her."

"So what was the argument really about?"

"Unlike Alicia, Sonja is a very sensual person, she needs more than just platonic love. So while she helped Alicia with her hair – she kissed her quite intimately in a non sisterly way. Quite the shock for Alicia, I'm afraid and Sonja felt so horrible for trespassing her needs into their mostly harmonic relationship that she decided to move out and give Alicia some space. Realising that Sonja was actually leaving, Alicia panicked at the thought of being alone and I guess what ever she yelled down the hallway, it let to a lot of interesting rumours."

"So that leaves your apprentice truly alone ..." Dracula said and thought about the wondrous opportunity this situation provided.

"I'm afraid, you will discover that Alicia will be just as disinterested in you as she always was."

"Given the chance I could melt her right away," the Count told Lace unable to understand why he wouldn't let him handle this in a more forceful way. It was not normal denying oneself the most basics needs, so how could Lace stand by watching his apprentice go to waste?

"Trust me, Count, I wouldn't mind, if you could, but the thing is, Alicia doesn't care about sex in the first place, so having behaved as allure as you have done from the start, she cares little about you, too."

Vladislaus shook his head, he knew how to wake deep hidden and buried longings. Even in such hard case like Anna Valerious. His ancestress had never shown any sign of sexual interest herself. Focused on revenge she had barely taken notice of Gabriel as man. The gypsy princess had been so reluctant at first, but still remembered the moment when Aleera had brought her in. Cursing and vowing to destroy him Anna had defied him and placing his lips upon hers, Dracula had felt her defying him with every inch of her body.

But after he had blanked out all her reasoning it became pretty obvious what the little princess really wanted. She would have made a good bride with all that adversary fire and long buried passion burning inside of her. He wondered how he had managed to resist her as he was dressing her for the party. Her breasts had been so soft and warm under his hands and she had moaned so sweetly before he had gotten a hold of himself.

Why had he resisted anyway? Gabriel had been totally unaware that the other guests had been vampires, he still would have come for her and the vampire smiled thinking about how dumb his old friend would have looked if the Anna he had snatched from his side would have already been a bride.

Alicia was reminding him so much of Anna. Both spent more time defying pleasures than pursuing them and remembering how she had danced he knew if he only would have enough free space, he could crack that shell. Probably exactly what the mage did not wanted to happen.

"I see you don't believe me, but know this, Alicia needs to trust someone before there is any chance for a closer relationship and I just can't imagine her trusting you. Especially if you keep pushing too hard and in all the wrong directions."

"I have kept my distances from her, I have taken great effort not too push."

"But you have been constantly around her, openly paraded Jasmine, flirted constantly with others – not things that will change her opinion about you."

"What kind of opinion has she about me?" Vladislaus wondered.

"I'd rather not quote, but as I already said she is quite opposed to the idea of having sex in general and since you have made it very clear that you like to sleep with her, she thinks of you less than favourably."

Lace stood up. "You got to thank the Crusaders for that. I can't imagine how awful it must have been for her, to listen to detailed descriptions of men talking about how they raped her mother." He poured himself a drink at the bar. "She needs that revenge, if only to realise that losing her mother wasn't the only thing that they took from her. So if you hope to impress her – I advise you look for a Crusader with burn marks on his left hand, close to six feet tall and about fifty years old, blond with steel blue eyes, who is in very good shape."

Dracula appreciated the hint. "I will do that, but first I think I catch the little intruder for you."

Vladislaus wasn't sure what exactly to think about all that. Was Lace trying him to show who was the boss while keeping him at bay with promises or was he just keeping his city tidy and wanted to help him fit in? Or maybe it was little of both, something else he needed to find out. And what was it about Lady Rain, that he wasn't seeing? Was she just considered a honoured guest because Lace needed someone with a cruel mind to think up horrible punishments? But somehow Dracula felt that wasn't the answer.

Still he learnt enough and used it. Not that he fully understood what exactly Alicia's problem was. Worst he began doubting for the first time that he could actually offer the woman much aside from slaying her enemies and making her one happy bride, and maybe not even the last thing. Thinking about it that had actually be the charm of his brides, he needed not be anything and could take as he pleased and never give more than what he got back. Now it seemed to be about reliability and trust. Vladislaus had never asked himself if he was either. After his pact with the devil he had lacked any kind of goals, aside from his hatred for the world that caused him to come up with all kinds of schemes.

So after, he had literally sent Jasmine away in shame at the next party, making it obvious how much he disapproved about her spreading certain rumours, he found himself quite some time alone. Especially since obviously Sonja had found some distraction or so Alicia told him rather frustrated, about her having yet another affair with some guy, who had left some rather nasty bruises on her. Which was obviously the reason why the dancer kept his identity a secret and she was smart enough to meet only during daylight hours.

But since Lace prepared to leave town for two days, which he announced by promising his citizens some big Christmas gifts in form of donations towards public institutions, he had not time to seek her out and confront her about what in the devil's name she was thinking. He really began to appreciate his old brides, women in this time seemed either be boring and unattractive or crazy and undecided.


	18. Christmas and other annoyances

Chapter 18: Christmas and other annoyances

It was around midday on the 23rd of December when Lace finally left town, with the promise to return on the next evening before the big Christmas Party in the tower's ballroom was taking place. So as soon as the night took a hold on the city, Vladislaus transformed into his hell-beast form and left the building. He had been given a communicator by the security staff beforehand. The Count circled around the building, but so high up that it was impossible to spot him without night vision.

He however could perfectly make out the shape of the tower and see how many people went in and out. It was nearly impossible to enter undetected from the ground-level yet alone leave that way, so the intruder must be able to enter the building from a higher level. Kara had briefed him about the approximate entry points, where Lace's protective shield had been damaged severely. So it would be easy for him to spot if anyone entered the building in a more unusual manner.

Around 2 a.m. Dracula began to worry whether the spy might actually be to smart or had some other reason for not showing up, as he noticed a heat signature outside the building. Intrigued he flew deeper to see that it was a woman who stared at him with big eyes, before she fell. She had crawled up the glass panels of the towers using no visible aids. Good to know that his hell-beast form could still create terror even under obvious magic users.

He warped under her and caught the light package just in time, before taking her up into the sky. The woman screamed in terror and kicked in panic, but there was no escaping his grasp. He swept around the building and then landed on the roof of Lace's skyscraper. where he handed her over to the security personal.

"Do you know her?" Vladislaus asked Parker once he had transformed back.

Slowly recovering from shock, the spy cursed a lot as she was lead away by security personnel, but neither the werewolf or Dracula were impressed, more amused.

"No, she might have an interesting magic ability, but she isn't very old or arrived only recently in the city," Parker answered him.

"I thought if someone was to enter the city, you would know about this?" the Count said surprised.

Parker shook his head: "Unfortunately they're are ways, if you are willing to crawl, or get dirty or are plain suicidal or got help from the inside."

"But why would Lace allow that?"

"I don't understand him that well either, but I've been around for a long time. Before that fat bitch, before he took on apprentices and before ...", the werewolf broke off. "He likes to invite trouble, I guess for diversion. He feels too save, because he never in a million years would believe someone could be stupid enough to take him out."

Dracula chuckled: "Yes, I why is that?"

"They think Lace is bluffing. Trust me he isn't the man that needs to bluff. Think about it. All cities were destroyed, nothing bigger than 50,000 people exists anymore - not even the ruins," Parker told the Count using his hands to visually support the claim about the vanishing cities. "Only this one! But he has me and I'm going to take care of every bastard dumb enough to try and go after him."

"Any particular reason for sharing that with me?" The Count tested him.

"To be truthful - I think you are one stupid bastard, I don't care what Lace thinks, but I know you are going to try and get him out of the way," Parker came awfully close and his eyes were pure glowing amber.

Dracula laughed, not out of delight, but in a sort of crazy frenzy. He couldn't believe that again he was having a werewolf that close breathing into his face. He saw the security chiefs face darken as he asked again if he had made his point clear.

"I heard you", Vladislaus said quietly.

Not entirely satisfied with the reply Parker grudgingly stepped back. The count's outburst did not sit too well with him, nonetheless he knew that at the moment there wasn't anything he could do. The vampire was out of reach for him, Lace wouldn't forgive him killing an honoured guest.

Still the conversation got the Count thinking and he realised he need to question Lace further about his city. At the moment he wasn't so sure if really wanted to dispose of the mage, but alone that idea that there really might be a closer connection between the existence of this place and his host, was scary and needed further investigation.

The vampire was everything but thrilled with the outlook of running out of livestock again. Granted there were supposedly smaller settlements, but as far as he heard the crusaders controlled all of them. Vladislaus doubted that he was having as much fun there as he had here in Los Angeles.

Back in the 19th century things had been so much easier, when nobody was there to rival his powers and he could do as he pleased. But when he considered that this lifestyle had gotten him nowhere where as Lace's cunning had gotten him much further in a more dangerous time, he felt more inclined not to return to the old ways.

Unfortunately when he saw Lace, the mage had little time. He thanked the Count for his intervention and even hinted that he had brought a new blood samples with him from his trip. Which made Vladislaus wonder once more if the mage was looking for a potential new enemy or maybe even a friend.

It was strange in a way Lace began to remind him of his earlier past with Gabriel. He had still been in his teens when his father had brought home the attractive young man who had lost all his memories. But it was not before long when he found that there were a great many things he could learn from the man who would later betray and murder him.

Lace was actually the first person whom Vladislaus had shared a meaningful discussion with since he had been murdered. The vampire was getting the feeling that he might miss them. There were many interesting person around, but some where only feeling safe around him because they were under Lace's protection and other like the lamias were just too different for his tastes.

Maybe the mage felt similar. Of all the things he had in this town, women, power, riches the only thing he lacked was someone he could actually talk to. Everyone here had his or her place, a function and the only person not scared of Lace was the Lady Rain and she was hardly desirable, whether physically or mentally.

The vampire hadn't much opportunity to observe his host during the Christmas festivities in order to see if his theory might be correct, since Lace was so busy receiving presents and giving speeches. At least the Lady Rain was still keeping to herself as well and so Vladislaus watched his host from distance. He was hoping to ask Lace when he was to get his cat-burglar back, he decided that it wasn't that important for now.

Dracula was anyway more wondering where Sonja was, but inquiring with Parker, he was informed that she had taken the week off. It bugged him immensely that Sanguina's words had become true indeed. But then again, Aleera hadn't been exactly shy with other men, before him and afterwards, so what did it matter to him. Eventually he would have her.

Thoughts like that usually got him wondering what he would actually do once he would come against his old friend once again. He could not take it slowly, but he also knew that mustn't rush things or else his revenge would just seem like a small wind and he wanted to cause great pain and devastation to his traitorous friend. Still this wasn't the time to contemplate possibilities, the whole festivities, made it rather hard to focus on anything dark and awful.

Cheerful laughter, brightness and colours were everywhere, even the other parts of the city sparkled brighter. Something that did not exactly improve the Count's mood. But then he did not need to move out, Lace first present to him was quite the tasteful selection of victim's to feed from. And while the vampire was enjoying himself in his rooms, safe from the sunlight, Lace was opening another school on Christmas morning.

Hearing it about in the evening intrigued Vladislaus, the mage was trying hard to press knowledge into his subjects. He wondered about what the mage might have talked with Lady Rain before he came. Had she always behaved like that or had she just been spoiled rotten? Dracula felt it was worth a try and have a conversation with Verbatina, who among the servants was obviously Sanguina's favourite victim.

The only problem was that he had problems finding her. It had been quite some time, since he had last seen her, but he felt like she had been around and Virginia confirmed that she was still performing her duties. Obviously nobody cared much for the girl and Dracula couldn't blame them, she was an awfully thin thing. Probably because she worked almost non stop, she was serving at the parties, the gym bar and she was always jumping when Lady Rain called her.

Lace had told him once, that answers will come to whom who can wait for them, and obviously that was true. After all the activities were over and all presents had been exchanged, including a few paintings Lace had handed over to him and some other things, he was finally handed over the cat-burglar. Lace apologised for her numb state, but apparently someone had implemented a spell that had blanked out the information he had needed from her.

It was kind of annoying to watch the lifeless vegetable sitting on his sofa, but the note also ensured him that the potency of her blood wasn't diminished by her state. Vladislaus did not really feel like spending much time with her anyhow and rather went on to enjoying the energy burst her blood offered. He already had savoured a great deal of her indeed very powerful blood as the door bell rang again.

He interrupted and licked the blood from his lips, as he asked his visitor to enter. Much to his surprise it was Verbatina, who bowed and said she had heard that he had wanted to see her. The vampire was quite shocked to see her up close. She had always been thin, but she looked awfully. Her dress was far too wide, but her bones stuck out and her face was beginning to fall in.

"Not exactly, I just haven't seen you that often lately and loosely wondered if the Lady Rain is giving you a hard time. After all I am kind of responsible for her bad mood," the Count carefully replied.

"Oh, well, I'm quite flattered, that you of all people show concern for my person, but forgive me if I can't bring myself to believe that this is the real reason for your inquiries."

"Not really, that is true, but not even I would let a beautiful woman work herself to death," said the Count.

"You don't work yourself to death in this place, you either get killed or if you are very lucky die of natural causes. That hasn't happened too often to be honest - so I rather do what I'm told to. It beats getting eaten by the ghouls at any rate," Verbatina said.

The Count looked at her: "You certainly ensured that there isn't much left for them to feast upon."

"Oh, please give me a break", she said slightly annoyed.

"Why not?" Vlad replied, even though he knew this had not been an actual request, he offered her a seat.

The skinny girl shrugged slightly and walked over to the seating arrangement with an unhappy look on her face. She was probably well aware of how she looked and him mentioning it hadn't made her feel any better about it. As she was about to sit on the smaller sofa, she caught sight of the cat burglar.

There was this indefinable look on her face, not unlike that of his meal, but she got a hold of herself quickly and asked with a surprisingly calm voice: "What did you do to her?"

"So far nothing more than taking a bit of her blood, the major credit goes to Lace."

"Figures, he is one cold bastard," she told him.

Dracula hadn't expected that Verbatina would talk in that fashion about the mage, but then again Lace probably did not care if others talked about him that way.

"Excuse me for a moment," the count said and went back to the door.

There he picked up the phone and called his servants to order some light food and a good amount of alcohol for his guest. Usually he refrained from offering alcohol, but since Verbatina wasn't exactly food, it wouldn't matter much when the alcohol spoiled her taste. It would however make it easier to get information from her, considering that she was one of those magic types that made it impossible for him to invade her mind.

Stepping back into the room, he was surprised to see her sitting next to the burglar. Verbatina was waving her hand before the trespasser's face, studying her quite intensely. Noticing Dracula she said: "I guess I don't want to find out how he did this. Especially when right now I got to worry about you?"

"Then - for the moment - you don't have to worry about anything. Just sit here and eat something. And while you are at it maybe tell me a bit more about Lady Rain," he suggested.

"Gathering some intelligence?" she smiled, but it was hard to say if she really was amused. Verbatina moved back to her place and leaned back. "I do have the feeling I rather disturbed you while having lunch."

"Doesn't seem to upset you much," the Count said.

"I've seen enough dead bodies, watched people of all ages getting murdered, killed quite a few myself - I don't get upset about something trivial like this," she admitted proudly.

"So that's what you been doing when not serving drinks." Vladislaus found the reply very intriguing, he had supposed that she had seen her share of violence, but not that she an active participant.

The Count stepped closer, bent over his dinner and bit her again, just to observe the reaction of his guest. She was indeed very cool about it, her heartbeat did not accelerate the least bit and as he turned his attention from the now dead body to her, she sat there with a luscious smile on her lips. The scene was interrupted by servants arriving with the food for his guest.

Verbatina looked quite surprised when the servants where placing three plates filled with cold but delicious looking snacks in front of her.

"So eat, you really need it," Vladislaus told her.

"I can't say no to such a nice offer", she said and picked up her first piece.

Vladislaus watched her a moment while she continued to eat a few of the snacks pieces before he showed her the wine bottle the servants had left with him.

"Oh, an excellent year and brand," Verbatina said.

"Please, let me," he said and opened it for her, filling her glass almost full.

Which caused Verbatina to explain that wine needed to breathe and that she supposed he wasn't drinking at all. He let her talk and eventually she emptied the wineglass. Hungrily she continued to eat, but slowly began to tell him a bit about her boring work life and how the Lady Rain influenced it. Not all of it was interesting, but it was worth the while.

With every sip of alcohol her tongue loosened a bit more. But it was worth the while, since the alcohol began to work his magic and loosened her tongue. Verbatina told him about how impatient and ill-mannered Sanguina had gotten lately. But also that it had been her who had brought Verbatina in on the Tower.

So she did not mind her temper tantrum that much, as her life in Misery would have been a lot worse. Not far after she began to complain about Lace and his disrespect towards magic users. But mostly about how he had her working extra shifts.

Listening to her Vladislaus wondered if it meant anything that she shared exactly Elaine's and the Masked Ones opinion. The question was also if Lace knew about this, she wasn't necessarily important enough for anyone to pay much attention to. Or maybe all those extra hours were his way of punishing her for being more loyal to the Lady Rain.

"You told me you killed, does Lace sent you out to those jobs?" The Count asked her.

"No, but occasionally I am scouting Misery for people that might suit Sanguina's taste and occasionally some dumb assholes cross my way. That is usually their last mistake," she smiled.

"How long do you think you can go on like this?"

"Probably not long, but maybe I don't have to."

The expression on her face turned rather nasty, it took Vladislaus a few seconds to realise that she was not looking at him but the clock behind him.

"Are you waiting for something?" he wondered.

"No," Verbatina said innocently as suddenly an enormously loud explosion came from the outer part of the harbour. For a moment it seemed that the whole city was shaking and then everything stood still, but the vampire had felt the enormous energy and he knew it was the magic Lace had woven into the very fabric of this city that had caused the trembles to stop.

Dracula rushed to his window and stared at the huge fire that lit the evening sky and reflected upon the water. He assumed it was one of the factories that burned, but he never had seen such a large explosion. The heat from the fire made it even for his special sight impossible to see anything. The servant girl came to his site and said, very much amused: "OH, looks like the sea food factory is burning, Lace won't like that."

Vlad turned around. He could sense her amusement, she tried not to show it, but was too intoxicated to control herself. There was absolutely no sign of surprise or shock. Vladislaus knew she was somehow involved in all of this.

"Stay here!" he told her firmly.

Not wasting a moment to look back and see whether she intended to follow his orders he strode from his apartment towards the elevator. Vladislaus was curious about what exactly was going on. For a moment he had considered going directly to the harbour, but knew that only Lace could share all the relevant information with him.

So he pressed the up button to call the elevator sure that he would find Lace on the 86th floor where all the security for this city and the tower ran together. He had never been there and wasn't even sure if he had access. Then when the doors opened several security guards occupied the cabin already. The five men and two women were probably on their way up there.

The grim expression could not hide the uncertainty and worry he knew from his own soldiers when they knew a conflict was coming but had yet to know what their mission was. The elevator stopped two times but the guards signalled the other inhabitants that they weren't allowed in. Vladislaus enjoyed the display of respect.

Finally they cabin stopped at the 86th floor.

"Ah, Count, you are already here", he was instantly greeted by Parker.

The werewolf stood in the rectangular corridor outside the elevator, Vladislaus and the guards approached Parker, while the doors already closed and went down again. Now he could see two other smaller corridors leading on the left and right side from this spacious one. There were also lots of steel doors all secured with electronic looks, at least judging by the lack of keyholes and the keypads beside them.

Especially impressive where the huge double door behind Parker, two extra security guards with heavy weaponry where stationed there.

"So you expected me", Vladislaus said after having his first glance over the room.

"Barely a minute ago Lace passed me and mentioned that he would like to talk to you", Parker said. "I hadn't even the time to sent someone for you. Anyway - you will find him behind those doors."

With that comment he turned around and signalled to the guards to let the Count through. Before Dracula could pose any further questions to Parker, he had already turned his attention to the guards. "Look we have issued a curfew, you will control sector M-3. Make sure all the citizens are in their homes, act wisely - we don't want any unnecessary incidents …"

Vlad did not hear him beyond that. After the guards had opened the big doors for him, he had stepped into the short steel corridor behind them. Once the doors had closed it turned out to be completely sound-proof. But the silence only lasted for a few seconds before the door at the other and slid open and wall of noise reached his ears.

While the room was overstuffed with monitors, electronic panels and hardware the Count hadn't yet encountered, nearly twenty people with headsets worked here. They where giving instructions that seemed to be addressing firemen, security on the ground and medical personnel. Dracula watched for a few seconds - he was familiar with this voice transmitting technology, but this scenery still seemed so alien to him.

As none of them re-acted to the question where Lace might be, he assumed that those headset shielded them from any outside interference. There were two more doors, again on the left and the right. Vladislaus choose to continue to the left. The next room was filled with storage units, that recorded the input from all the security cameras over the city. For the vampire it was nothing more than a collection of identical bulky blinking metal towers.

Wondering if he had taken the right direction he suddenly heard Virginia's voice.

"We should have gotten rid of him a long time ago", he heard her say angrier than ever before.

"It's no good to argue what could have been - we got to deal with the situation at hand", Alicia intervened.

Lace and the two women were standing in the outer corner of the office behind them the big panoramic glass facade. The fire was still burning bright, but neither of them really looked at it any more. The two women faced each other, while Lace instantly noticed him as he was facing the door.

"Ah, Count - I was hoping that the incident might attract your attention."

The lamia pouted. She was not happy about being dismissed so easily. For Vladislaus however it felt natural to be at the centre of attention. In his view this was how things ought to be.

"It was hard to overhear - I assume this is a rather bad turn of events", Vladislaus replied.

"It's a catastrophe", Virginia said.

"Enough", Lace raised his hand and the lamia bit her lip. He tried to remain calm. Dracula with his extraordinary senses saw that the mage was boiling with anger. He suspected that Virginia might also be able to see this.

"You know what needs to be done. I suggest you get started."

The lamia knew she had gone too far. Of course in a way she was right. Lace however wasn't the person who possesses the tolerance to be reminded of it again and again. The pale beauty left, her head proudly risen and yet she avoided any eye contact. No matter how high up in the hierarchy she was, she still was a servant.

Thinking about it, the Count realised that there wasn't really anyone who was treated by Lace like an equal. Although he came close, it was more like he had an apprentice status like Alicia. A few hundreds years ago he would not have tolerated this from anyone, now it did not even bother him that much.

"It's more an annoyance", Alicia said after the lamia had left.

"And the Masked One is behind this?" Vladislaus wondered.

"Yes - indeed", Lace sounded quite disappointed. "I guess I overestimated my quarries intelligence." He turned and stared out of the windows towards the flames in the distance. "Alicia, would you be so kind and leave us?"

The apprentice nodded gracefully and walked towards the door. Picking up some papers from the desk she passed the vampire could see her face. He was getting the odd impression that she already knew what Lace would tell him. It made him twice as anxious. After Alicia had closed the door, the mage still facing the city and not his guest put down his glasses.

"I haven't been completely honest with you: For some weeks I already had a suspicion as to whom's blood you might need."

Vladislaus stared angry at Lace's back. He had expected a lot but certainly not this. Knowing that he should not be surprised that his host had played with him all along, he began to wonder if this was just a new phase of being toyed with.

"And now you are going to tell me that I need to find the troublemaker for you and all my problems will be solved."

Lace turned around smiling slightly. Vladislaus drew a sharp breath, it wasn't the rare smile on the mage's face that got to him. It was the fact that for the first time ever he saw his eyes. The vampire could understand why most people were terrified of him. It wasn't just their pure blackness they were like the door to an endless void.

Very few could actually bear to look at them without losing their minds. Even a few seconds gave people unfortunate enough nightmares for the rest of their lives. Dracula only found them fascinating.

"I don't need to tell you fancy lies to get rid off my problems. What ever information I gave or withheld was in your best interest. All these centuries you wasted your potential. What exactly was it that your tremendous powers ever did for you besides some short lived amusement?"

The Count felt his anger subsiding. Lace's questions were not new to him. Often enough he had begun asking them of himself.

"You planned your little deal …" the Count began.

"Whatever makes you think that?" Lace said putting back his glasses. "No, the deal was a desperate measure. The difference is that I already possessed tremendous power before for which I worked very hard for."

Not sure whether he had understood what the mage meant, he asked: "So all of this was just so I would appreciate my power more?"

"Not just appreciate - to use it with surgical precision like a scalpel instead of swinging it around like a sledgehammer. HE does not give us power for our benefit, but he can't stop us from using it in our interest and not his if we are only bold enough", Lace revealed in an almost passionate manner.

"You are talking about going against the devil?"

"Why not? You are even harder to destroy than I am, what you got to worry about. Or do you feel some kind of new found loyalty towards him that would make you sacrifice your best interest for his sick game?"

"I never figured my best interests and his were all that separate", the Count said.

"His plan is obvious to destroy God's creation - I don't know why and I don't really care. But this is my playground, I really like this place and a lot better before some power drunk demons showed up left and right and sucked all the major cities into hell."

"That was kind of my plan, too - maybe that was why I ended up having all this power in the first place. Many people sold their souls. You yourself said once, that you were amazed how much power I was granted", the vampire paused a moment. "But I have given up on that plan long before I arrived here. What was it you were waiting for, before you would tell me?"

Lace shrugged. "Actually - never. I figure when you were ready and had sharpened your mind and will enough, you would discover that for yourself."

The revelation kind of stung the Count. He already felt a bit ashamed about having wield such power and with so little gain compared to what he had achieved, but this was kind of hard to take in.

"So I already know who the Masked One is?" he replied puzzled.

The mage nodded and Vladislaus' mind raced. But none of the males he had meet so far seemed to be that powerful. It crossed his mind that the Lady Rain had something to do with him; definitely Verbatina. "I know that Lady Rain's favourite servant is working for him, probably her, too."

"You are on the right track. Maybe you were further ahead than I figured."

"Then I won't waste another second, I find will find this guy and will kill him."

10


End file.
